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I 






LOWER CALIFORNIA: 



73 



|te ^wgraplg a# CJaracteratits, 



SKETCH OF THE GRANT AND PURPOSES 



OWER CALIFOMIA COMPANY. 



1868. 



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Ntnv l0vlt: 

M. B. BROWN & CO., BOOK & JOB STEAM PRINTERS, 

99 & 101 William Street. 

1868. 



LIST OF OFFICERS, 



RICHARD SCHELL. 

(^tfvtxmK mA ^\xptxxvAmAtni, 

GEN'L JOHN A. LOGAN 

^xtixmtXf 

WM. R. TRAVERS. 



§ixttUv&, 

C. K. Garrison, Gen. B. F. Butler, 

August Belmont, Wm. S. C. Fargo, 

Hon. John A. Griswold, Leonard W. Jerome, 

Wm. R. Travers, David Crawford, 

Hon. Robt. McLean, Francis Morris, 

George "Wilkes. 




lerks office of ihA District Court of theV.S hrthe SoTitf'^mDzstrat of JJ'es^ J \ 



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LOWER CALIFORNIA 



AND THE 



LOWER CALIEORIIA COMPAIY, 



It is the object of this pamphlet to call attention to that remarkable 
portion of the Pacific coast which adjoins the United States upon its 
south-western border, and which is known to the world as the peninsula 
of Lower California. It is also its object to inform the public that the 
bulk of that peninsula, including its harbors, fisheries, and mines, 
has been acquired, under concession or grant from the Mexican 
Government, by certain American citizens, who have organized them- 
selves in New York, under the title of the Lower California Company. 
And it is finally its object, after a brief glance at the geographical 
position and natural capacities of the peninsula, to explain the charac- 
ter of that grant, and the powers and purposes of the Company. In 
doing this, care will be taken that no exaggerations shall be made, and 
that such obvious facts alone be stated, as shall be due to the case 
and to the standing of the Company. 

The geographical importance of Lower California will at once be 
seen by reference to the map. Springing boldly from the main land 
at 32 ° North latitude, it juts downward into the Pacific to the distance 
of six hundred miles, with an outer and inner line of lofty coast, 
abounding in grand harbors, and sentinelled by numerous islands. It 
constitutes, therefore, a natural fortress of incalculable strength, which 



on its outer face domineers the vast commerce of the North-west 
coast, while its inner shore and islands overawe the richest part of 
Northern Mexico. This eastern shore, moreover, presides over that 
famous arm of the sea known as the Gulf of California, at the head 
of which comes in the mouth of that great river (Colorado) whose 
waters, rising far north in the interior of Utah, offer hundreds 
of miles of steam navigation to the internal trade of the United 
States, with a westward outlet for it to the sea. It would, therefore, be 
hardly possible to compass, much less to over-estimate, the geographi- 
cal importance of Lower California to the western portion of the 
continent. In this point of view it has long been an object of great 
interest to those who have speculated upon the future destiny of 
North America ; and the source, as well, for the last twenty years, of 
deep regret that it was not acquired by the United States Commission- 
ers, at the time of the acquisition of Upper California, of which it is 
the natural appendage. The development of the precious metals 
along the whole line of the Pacific coast, the eager spring in that di- 
rection of "trans-continental railways to meet the coming commerce of 
the East, and the still more marvellous indications (through the Chinese 
treaty, and otherwise) that the stifled populations of the Asian empires 
are on the point of transferring their waste millions to the whole mineral 
area of the North- West Coast, brings Lower California, as a promi- 
nent portion of that tempting region, forward, at this time, with 
a new and accumulating interest. In this connection, it will be 
well to observe by a reference to the annexed map, that the favorite 
southern route for a trans-Atlantic railway, projected to terminate at 
Guaymas, finds a natural depression across the peninsula of Lower 
California, which will make it the medium of the shortest and quickest 
passenger route from New York to San Francisco. This map will 
further show the mouth of the Colorado River, aptly termed by Lieu- 
tenant Beale, the "Mississipi of the West," and which was so highly 
estimated by him, as an artery of commerce, that, at the close of his 
survey of it in 1863, he declared that a war with France on the part 



of the United States, would not be too high a price to prevent it from 
being seized and estranged from us in the then pending French 
experiment on Mexico. In his subsequent report to the Secretary 
of the Treasury, under date of November 5th, 1863, Lieutenant 
Beale says of this river : "I beg of you to remember that this 
river, (with its tributaries spread out like a fan), reaches for a 
thousand miles into the very bowels of our continent, and terminates 
in that long, placid sea which washes the shores of Sonora on one side, 
and the peninsula of Lower California on the other, for more than seven 
hundred and fifty miles. In fact, the Gulf of California is the mouth 
of the Colorado !" In view of the increased value which the future 
commerce of this great river is destined to give to the lands on both 
sides of the Gulf of California, Lieutenant Beale adds: "It is pos- 
sible to buy up immense grants of land in both Sonora and Lower 
California. These grants are what are called floating grants, and it 
occurred to me to buy up these grants and locate them. It is true an 
individual would not, in making the purchase, buy with it the sover- 
eignty, but the fact that the land was all owned by citizens of the 
United States might predispose Mexico to part with its sovereignty 
for a consideration of some commercial character which we could 
make." 

In connection with these observations of Lieut. Beale, it is not 
improper to state that the Lower California Company, in addition to 
its acquisitions in the peninsula, have made arrangements to acquire 
large interests in Sonora, in order that they may be assimilated with 
the general property of the Company. In speaking of Lower Cali- 
fornia, in a letter of earlier date (Aug. 5th, 1863), also directed to 
the Secretary of the Treasury, Lieutenant Beale says : 

" I am quite sure that I have not exaggerated the great value 
to our country of that long mountain ridge, which abounds in good 
harbors on both the Gulf coast and the Pacific, and is filled with 
mineral wealth of every description. I beg you will give this subject 
a few hours' consideration — valuable and abundantly occupied as your 
time is, I assure you this matter is worthy your attention. I desire 



6 

most particularly to call your attention to the fact that we have it in 
our power at this time, by purchase of Lower California and a very 
small portion of the opposite coast, to possess the mouth of the Colorado 
River, destined to be as important to us on the Pacific as the Missis- 
sippi to the Eastern States. * * * Lower California, as I have 
before written, possesses mines of incalculable extent and inestimable 
value, while its harbors are numerous, capacious, and secure." 



The Lower California grant or concession, comprehends all that 
portion of Lower California, which is embraced within the parallels o^ 
2A^° 20' and 31" north latitude, including both coasts of the peninsula; 
and it comprises altogether, the vast area of 46,800 square miles. 
"Within this area, only scanty properties ever have been settled by the 
natives;* while the few and limited grants previously made within it 
by the Mexican Government, have been vacated for non-fulfilment, 
almost without exception, by a subsequent decree. 

This grant was originally made to certain wealthy and influential 
American citizens in Upper California, through Jacob P. Lease, of 
San Francisco ; but those parties having failed to fulfil its conditions, 
within the period prescribed to them, the Mexican Government, 
permitted the said grant to be transferred to the Lower California 
Company. This transfer was duly made at the Mexican Legation 
in "Washington, on the 4th May, 1866, and the grant was then 
re-validated and extended, so that its original terra should be renewed 
and run freshly from that date. This re-validation and extension was 
subsequently ratified at Mexico by President Juarez in the following 
4th August, 1866. In evidence thereof, a duly authenticated copy 
of said grant, and memoranda of said transfer and conveyance, 
certified by the Mexican Minister, have been filed in the office of the 
Secretary of State, of the United States, in order that the American 
Government may have oflBcial cognizance thereof 



* The present population of Lower California is estimated at 14,000, nearly all -which is 
below the Southern line of the Company's grant. The upper boundary is likewit'e sep- 
erated from the Northern border of the peninsula, inasmuch as the Mexican government did 
not wish the grant to directly impinge upon the territory of the United States. 



By reference to the grant, a copy of which will be found elsewhere,* 
it will be seen that it confers upon the colonists of the Company quasi 
governmental powers, subject only to the general laws of Mexico. It 
likewise confers immediate citizenship upon the Company's colonists, 
exemption to those colonists from military services, remission of taxes 
upon wearing apparel, provisions, mining tools, and other of their 
imports — privileges which have never been exceeded for liberality, in 
any grant made by the Mexican government to foreign citizens. 
Such was the opinion of the Hon. Caleb Cushing, whom the Company 
legally consulted at the time of their acquisition of the grant, while the 
validity of the grant stands further certified to, by Hon. Robert J. 
"Walker, who had been previously consulted in the premises. To their 
authority may be added that of the distinguished lawyers who are 
among the original members of the Company. 

Upon the basis of this vast property, with its franchises and its 
privileges, the Company, through its Trustees, applied for and obtamed 
in the winter of 1866-7, a perpetual charter from the State of New 
York, with an unlimited capital, which vests in the Trustees of the 
Company the power 



"Of holding, leasing, and improving lands in Lower California, and 
of obtaining therefrom all minerals and other valuable substances, 
whether by working or mining, or disposing of privileges to work or 
mine. &c., * * * and to dispose of the proceeds 

of all such lands, mines, and works as it may deem proper, &c." * 
* * " The said Company shall also have power to 

establish agencies for the purpose of procuring and forwarding to 
Lower California, emigrants and other persons, and for owning and 
managing such ships and vessels as it may deem necessary for that 
purpose ; and to own and carry on such transportation on inland 
waters, as may be necessary for its purposes in Lower California ; or 
for the purpose of encouraging regular means of communication be 
tween any part of the United States and any part of Lower Califor- 
nia," &c., &c. 

* See Appendix. 



8 

Under this Charter the Company has fixed its capital stock at Thir- 
ty-five miUions of dollars, which sum is inclusive of eight millions to 
be issued for the purchase of the Sonora grants. Upon this basis it 
now stands organized as follows : 

President, 
RICHARD SCHELL. 

Governor and Superintendent, 
GENL. JOHN A. LOGAN. 

Treasurer, 
WM. R. TRAVERS. 

Directors, 

C. K. Garrison, Gen. B. F, Butler, 

A UGUST Belmont, Wm, S. G. Fargo, 

Hon. John A. Griswold, Leonard "W. JERoke, 

Wm. R. Travers, David Crawford, 

Hon. RoBT. Mc.Lane, Francis Morris, 

George Wilkes. 

Besides these eminent citizens, we find among the original and 
present members of the Company, the Hon. Caleb Cushing, S. L. M. 
Barlow, John R. Garland, Edwards S. Sanford, John Anderson, 
Ben. Holladay, Francis Morris, John W. Forney, H. C. Stim- 
soN, A. Welch, Charles Gallagher, George A. Osgood, John 
Mc. B. Davison, Jacob P. Leese, H. C. Gray, Levi A. Dowley, 
Charles D. Poston, &c., &c. 

It may not be out of place, in connection with these names, to 
notice, that in addition to the great legal and mercantile experience 
they represent, they likewise combine most important forms of 
influence in the way of ocean steamships, overland expresses, tele- 
graphy, financiering, general trade, and public station. Two of them. 



it also may be said, have been ministers of the United States to China 
and to Mexico. 

Lower California was made known to the civilized world in 1532. 
It was first heard of by the Spanish conquerors of Mexico, as the 
source of the pearls, emeralds, garnets, and rich specimens of gold and 
silver ores, which were among the spoils of Montezuma's capital ;* and 
Cortes, acting upon this belief, fitted out an expedition, consisting 
of two vessels, to explore it. The result of this enterprize was, 
that the peninsula was reported as an island, and named from 
the treasures of its waters, the Isla de Perlas ; while the gulf which 
washed its inner shore, was called the Sea of Cortes. The Peninsula 
subsequently received the name of California from the Jesuit Mission- 
aries; and the gulf, after having been named by some navigators, the 
Vermillion Sea, from the peculiar crimson of portions of its waters, 
finally settled down into its present title, of the Gulf of California. 

At the time of its discovery. Lower California was inhabited by a 
race of peaceful Indians who lived an easy life on the almost spontan- 
eous products of the earth. They were easily managed by the Jesuits, 
who, in process of time established missions all over the peninsula, 
and taught the inhabitants the arts of agriculture. Finding that the 
precious metals were among them, the thrifty fathers amassed consider- 
able wealth, and many an altar is to this day rich with the gold and 
silver of that early period. These missions were planted in almost 
every valley from Cape St. Lucas to the 32d parallel, and at the 
opening of the present century all were in a state of marked pros- 
perity. The principal of them was that of Loreto, which is now the 
territorial capital of Lower California. The next was that of Co- 
mondu, situated at the head waters of the great Bay of Magdalena on 
the Pacific coast. San Javier was also a place of considerable note, 
while Mulege, Santa Gertrudis, San Ignacio, San Borja, Santa Maria, 
Eosario and Santa Catalina, may also be mentioned among the thriving 
communities of the early time. These missions maintained from two 

* Historical Summary of Lower California, by Alexander S. Taylor. See Appendix. 



10 

to five thousand Indians each, who with their families were employed 
by 1 he Jesuits in cultivating land or herding stock. They lived in 
plenty. The climate enabled them to grow not only the most 
valuable grains, but also sugar, figs, oranges, dates, and other tropical 
productions ; while of cotton, they always raised sufficient to supply 
their wants in clothes. "We search in vain among the records of these 
people for accounts of those great drouths which are said to render the 
country incapable of culture. We find, on the contrary, that the 
fathers had a system of agriculture which was entirely reliable. They 
consulted with intelligence the characteristics of the country, and 
those very features which the impatient and the ignorant have 
reported as discouraging, were, turned to account and proven to be 
providential. The naissions were usually planted on the hill sides 
so that they overlooked the valleys, and when the rains fell, contin- 
gent water was secured by a system of enormous dams of stone, 
which were projected from hill to hill quite across the valleys, so 
as to back up the water in artificial streams till the next rain fell. 
These rude works were as creditable to the Jesuits of Lower California 
as were the aqueducts of Egypt and of Eome to the Pharoahs and the 
Caesars ; and their ruins are to this day a rebuke to the present dero- 
gate condition of the territory. The truth is, that Lower California, 
instead of being worthless or even undesirable, has simply retrogaded. 
Nevertheless, with all of its misfortunes, it is not to-day as desolate 
as the Roman Campagna, or as worthless as many of the once fertile 
districts of the Nile. 

The revolution wliich overturned the authority of Spain expelled the 
Jesuits from Lower California, and the relaxed condition of affairs 
which followed, destroyed all the discipline of native labor. The 
Franciscan Friars came in after the retirement of the Jesuits, but they 
had not the governing faculty of the Order of Jesus, and the most 
thriving missions, consequently, soon lost their importance, and 
dwindled into insignificance. The political vicissitudes which followed 
account for the supervening desolation. 



11 

The climate of the peninsula of Lower California, is described by 
all travelers as being unsurpassed for its delicious softness, without 
being subject to any extremities of temperature. By the Hon. J. Ross 
Browne, it has been proclaimed to be, indisputably, the finest climate 
in the world. The present products of the territory, according to the 
oflScial export list of 1857, are wine, hides, salt, cheese, sugar, dried 
meats, figs, raisins, dates, oranges, salted fish, Brazil wood, gold, silver 
and copper ores, gold and silver in marks and ounces, pearls and mother 
of pearl, &c. Portions of its la.nds have recently been found pe- 
culiarly adapted to the cultivation of tobacco, opium, silk and cotton. 
The above official export list will of itself refute the alleged sterility 
of the country. It will be borne in mind, also, that this alledged 
barrenness is precisely the description we once had of the fertile centre 
of this continent under the name of the Great American Desert. The 
like was said of Upper California by the earlier pioneers ; and the same 
of Chili and Peru, in which latter regions we were told discouragingly, 
it never rained. All of these countries, however, are now well filled 
with agricultural populations, and under the patient and encouraging 
hand of man, they blossom like the rose. Lower California will un- 
questionably range itself under the affirmative of the same problem ; 
and there can be no doubt, that ample supplies of water can be had 
anywhere within it, at three or four feet below the surface. The 
letter of the Hon. Chas. D. Poston, U. S. Commissioner to China, 
may be usefully consulted on this subject.* 

It is believed, that upon proper development, the mines of Lower 
California will not be found inferior to those of any other portions of 
the continent, while its copper and salt deposits are known to be among 
the richest in the world. Upon some of its islands the new and valua- 
ble kind of iron which is found in grains, and which is known to com 
merce as the titanic iron ore, has been discovered in abundance. 

The principal of the present settlements are the Mission Commondu 
and Mulege. The first of these is situated at the head waters of the 

* See Letter of Mr. Poston to General Logan in the Appendix, and also of the Kev. Dr- 
Martin. 



12 



northwestern arm of the Bay of Magdalena, at the foot of a rocky 
canon opening to the west, almost forty miles from the mouth of the 
harbor. Here there has for a long time been quite a settlement of 
American and English sailoi's, who chiefly occupy themselves in 
capturing whales, which resort there from the North Pacific at certain 
seasons, for the purpose of delivering their young. This trade has 
been pursued for about thirty years, and the proceeds of each year 
have been estimated at 200,000 gallons of oil. 

The general fisheries of the peninsula are among its most 
valueable features. This article of its commerce ranges, as we 
have seen, from whales and seals to the pearl oyster ; and in 
relation to the latter, the eastern or gulf coast of the peninsula 
has always been the great pearl fishery of past and present 
history. The prospects of a new mode of conducting this fishery by 
submarine steam vessels, instead of by native divers as heretofore, 
is likely to give it very great importance, and to prove highly remune- 
rative in the article of mother of pearl alone, which has of late years 
become one of the most highly-prized elements of elegant ornament 
and furniture. Projects are already formed to utilize this and the other 
fisheries of the peninsula ; and with the salt in such profusion as it is 
found in several of the islands, there is but little doubt the general fish- 
eries of Lower California will compete favorably with any other 
known fisheries in the world. The great advantage of most of those 
productions and opportunities is, that they lie directly in the new high 
road of commerce ; while the peninsula itself, affords the short cut by 
which the Southern inter-oceanic railway can reach the Pacific coast, 
and take up the China and the San Francisco trade. For the China 
trade especially, the peninsula is much more favorably situated than 
Upper California, as trade winds prevail which enable ordinary ships 
to bear across from Shanghae to Magdalena Bay with hardly a 
change of sails. For the purpose of a Chinese immigration this ad- 
vantage would prove itself invaluable. 

The geographical importance and characteristics of Lower California^ 



being thus briefly exhibited, and the title and powers of the Company 
succinctly shown, it becomes of interest to know in what way the Direc- 
tors propose to turn this empire to account. They have, of course, 
many plans for the development and utilization of a territory of such 
various resources, but as all of its interests are to be subserved 
by colonization, the Company have first devoted themselves to 
the development of that important problem. The preliminary step 
toward this was taken by the Company, in the performance of a 
scientific reconnoissance or survey of the mainland and coast of the 
Peninsula im 1867. For the bulk of these duties, the Company, in 
the Fall of 1866, employed the Hon. J. Eoss Browne, then United 
States Commissioner of Mines and Mining for the Far Western 
States, but since then appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of the 
United States to China. This gentleman, along with a party of 
experts, all under orders to make reports only to the Company, 
entered upon their duties in the latter part of 1866, at the southern 
boundary of the grant, and terminated them in March of the following 
year, by passing out over its northern boundary to San Diego, in 
Upper California. In connection with this territorial reconnoissance, 
Mr. Browne and two other agents of the Company, served upon the 
local Governor of Lower California a notice from the Supreme 
Government of Mexico, of the transfer to the Company of the grant, 
and also another paper, executed by the Government, called a notice or 
"order of possession." This order or notice, accompanied by a full copy 
of the grant, was at the same time published, for the more complete 
information of the Governor of Lower California, in the " Periodico 
Official," or official bulletin of the Mexican Government, under date 
of July 27th, 1866. In further connection with these movements, 
Mr. Browne, passing out from the main land at Magdalena Bay, 
embarked upon the U. S. Steamer Suwanee, Captain C. M. Scam- 
mon, of the coast survey, and secured, through the voluntary exer- 
tions of that officer, a reliable survey of the western coast of the 
Peninsula. This survey developed the remarkable fact, that the 



14 

longitude of the ocean coast of the peninsula had always been thrown 
a full degree too far to the west (while the eastern longitude 
remained unchanged), and. as this mistake showed, a large reduction 
of the territorial surface of the grant ; the Company have appealed 
to the equity of the Mexican Government to make them due com- 
pensation elsewhere. 

The next step toward colonizing the territories of the Company was 
the appointment by the Directors, of General John A. Logan, as 
Governor of colonization and General Superintendent of the affairs 
of the Company within the boundaries of the Peninsula. This 
appointment was made with the view of affording protection to the 
colonists from any roving bands, insubordinate to the Mexican 
Government ; and likewise as an assurance to settlers from the United 
States, that their interests would always be under the immediate pa- 
tronage of an experienced and vigilant authority. 

The wisdom of these preliminary steps, but chiefly the timely pro- 
curation of the grant, have been singularly justified by subsequent 
events. It would almost seem as if the grant and charter of the Com- 
pany had been specially devised to meet the new impulse which had 
just developed itself among the eastern nations, and which, under the 
fostering patronage of the Burlingame embassy, promises to transfer 
the waste millions of the Indian seas from one coast of the Pacific to 
the other, in the interest of the United States. In fact, the grant and 
charter of the Lower California Company appear to fit into the policy 
of the Chinese missioi>, and to provide most opportunely for this new 
movement of the human race. The liberal policy of the Compan}"-, in 
guaranteeing equal political, legal, social, and religious rights, to all 
settlers, of whatever race, squares exactly with the wants of China, 
and not only affords her a field where she may exhibit the intelligence 
and capacity of her people in fair competition with the European races, 
but furnishes her with a means, through those superior opportunities 
and privileges, of putting an end to the execrable Coolie trade. Her 
people who have indulged in emigration, even at the risk of being made 



.j5 « ■■;^ 

slaves, as in Cuba and other parts of the "West Indies ; or of being 
denied even the poor privilege of an oath in court, as in Upper Cali- 
ornia, will henceforth prefer a land where labor is free and honorable, 
and where equal rights make every settler's life and property secure. 
The problem of state legislation, in regard to the social status of the 
Chinese within certain States of the United States, may thus also be 
equitably solved by the noblest process known to human reason, to wit : 
by the process of example, backed by the arguments of business com- 
petition. In addition to the operation of these moral considerations upon 
the mind of the Chinese government, the foreshadowed emigration has 
material prospects of not inferior importance. The descent of the 
Chinese upon the shores of Lower California will have the effect of 
translating millions of her poor subjects, who now earn but a few cents 
a day and pay no taxes, into prosperous colonists who will earn seve- 
ral dollars a day and buy largely of home products. China will thus, by 
one bound as it were, avail herself of the traditional policy of Eng- 
land, by creating outside colonies or dependencies upon her trade, and 
will thus avail herself of the benefits of a system, which required 
hundreds of years of European civilization to develope. 

The opportunity afforded to China by the Company to do these things, 
presented, in itself, sufficient inducement to warrant her in pushing her- 
self out among the family of nations ; and this opportunity, if improved to 
the extent it may be, will crown the mission of Mr. Burlingame with a 
large measure of success, even should his embassy meet Avith no recog- 
nition from the European powers. In this point of view, the European 
success of Mr. Burlingame's mission is not a matter of the first impor- 
tance, either to China or the United States. The body of the problem 
which he guides, lies between the opposing shores of the Pacific 
Ocean, and it must be obvious to any shrewd observer, that the princi- 
pal claims of his mission have already been accomplished in the treaty 
recently negotiated with the United States. That treaty comprehends 
and provides for social changes, which may result in a greater commer- 
cial revolution than the world has ever seen ; and it must, therefore, 



16 

be also obvious, that that very treaty, which thus far has elicited only 
the scorn of the English press, will become, under the contingency of 
any improper interference, an alliance, between China and the United 
States, for the freedom of trade in the Pacific, and on the Chinese 
coast. 

That the Company thoroughly comprehend the whole philosophy of 
this situation, and are preparing themselves to act in true accord with 
it, would seem apparent from by the following correspondence, had with 
Mr. Browne, United States Minister to China, with Mr. Romero, Minister 
of Mexico to the United States, and Mr. Burlingame, Minister of 
China to the world. This correspondence will of itself preclude the 
necessity of any special detail of the purposes of the Company in 
regard to colonization. In that point of view it should be read with 
care. 

MR. WILKES TO MR. BROWNE. 

Office of the Lower California Co., 
No. 19 William Street, 
New York, June 8th, 1868. 
His Excellency J. Ross Browne, 

Minister of the United States to China: 

Sir, — The Lower California Company, holding, as you are aware, a grant from ' 
the Mexican Government, which entitles them to take up and to colonize the 
lands of Lower California, and operating under a Charter from the State of New 
York for the establishment of steamer lines, &c., have recently made arrange- 
ments for carrying out the purposes of said grant, by colonizing Chinese upon 
the coast and in the interior of Lower California; and also upon tracts of land in 
Sonora, the title to which has also been acquired by the Company. 

The grant or concession held by the Company is, as you will perceive by the I 
copy herewith enclosed, of a most liberal character. It covers 46,800 square 
miles, which is nearly the whole bulk of the Peninsula. It confers quasi 
governmental powers, similar to those enjoyed by the Hudson's Bay and East 
India Companies ; and it guarantees to all the Company's colonists, ivithout regard 
to race or color, all the political and religious rights which enure to Mexican 
citizens, as soon as such colonists shall establish themselves upon Mexican soil, 
under the authority of the Co^npany. 

By the 9th section of the grant, you will perceive that the liberty of religious 
worship is especially guaranteed to the colonists. By the 10th section, they 
are empowered to establish Municipalities, elect their own authorities, levy local 
taxes, and -perform all other acts pertaining to political organizations, upon 
simply giving information of their intentions to the Political Chief of the Ter-« 
ritory. By the 12 th section, all wearing apparel, iron tools, provisions, and 
things necessary to preserve life, are exempted from duty for ten years. By 



17 



the 13th section, the colonists are in like manner exempted from " all classes 
of imports and taxes," except the "municipal contributions," which they may 
themselves establish. And by tlie 14th section, tliey are exempted from service 
in the national army for five years. 

Tliese franchises were all that were desired by the Company to enable them to 
establish such colonies as would develop the fishing, agricultural and mining 
resources of Lower California to their utmost extent. 

Thus authorized, the Company have, on their part, empowered, by letters 
patent, bearing the seal of the Company, the Hon. Charles D. Poston, Com- 
missioner of Agriculture from the United States to China, to contract, in the 
name of the Company, with any persons or public officers in China, and if need 
be with the Government of China, for ten thousand or more of Chinese colonists^ 
to be landed upon the coast of Lower California. And he is further authorized 
to convey to said colonists, such lands as they may require, in alternate plots or 
sections, anywhere within the boundaries of said grant they may select, or 
upon any of the Company's lands in Sonora ; all of said lands to be conferred 
upon said colonists at the same rate (with but a fraction added to cover expenses 
of location) as paid by the Company for the same, to Mexico. 

The Company further guarantees, in addition to this virtual gift of the land 
on their part, all the agricultural, mining and fishing privileges (including the 
privilege of the jsearl fisheries), and all the political and religious rights which 
enure under their grant and charter, to the most favored of their colonists. 

The Honorable Commissioner of Agriculture, aforesaid, will soon sail for 
China, and the Compaay having thus empowered him, feel it to be due to your 
Excellency's higli position to lay their purposes before you in advance, in order 
that yon may be fully apprised of their good faith, in case the transactions of the 
Company in China shall be brought to your personal or official observation. 

In this connection, the undersigned begs leave to add, that he has laid the 
grant and charter of tlie Company, and likewise the purposes of the Company in 
regard to Chinese colonization, before the Hon. Anson Burlingame, the Minister 
Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of tlie Emperor of China to the World, 
and has the gratification to state, that Mr. Burlingame, recognizing the plan of 
the Company to be broad and liberal, and as one that will not only destroy the 
infamous coolie system, but give to the Chinese people an opportunity to compete, 
upon equal terms with the European races, in the problem of self-government, 
has expressed for the objects set forth by the Company, his cordial approbation. 

Hoping that you, also, may see in the proposed colonization upon the Pacific 
coast of industrious and intelligent Asiatics, an equal advantage to the United 
States, through the creation of new and contiguous markets for American 
products. 

I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your Excellency's most obedient 
servant, | GEORGE WILKES, 

I Director, &c.. Lower California Company. 



EEPLY OF MR. BROWNE. 

New York, June 8, 1868. 
G-EORGE "Wilkes, Esq., 

Director Lower California Co., &c. : 

Dear Sir, — In reply to your communication of yesterday, on the subject 
of colonizing Chinese emigrants upon the property of your Company, I have 
great pleasure in stating— 



18 



That, although the property you have obtained by grant from the Mexican 
Government is not attractive to American or European emigrants, on account 
of its inferiority, as an agricultural country, to Upper California and the adjacent 
territories, as well as because there is a great amount of unoccupied land open to 
settlementin our Western and Southern country, — it is, in my opinion, admirably 
adapted to the colonization of Asiatics, both from the convenience of its locality, 
which gives the best facility for landing emigrants from China, and for the readi- 
ness withwhicli they can become self-sustaining by the product of the fisheries; 
and for the mining and shipment of copper and other ores, which will find a 
ready market in San Francisco. The safe anchorage at Magdalena Bay, and 
the practicability of obtaining fresh water by digging wells in the surrounding 
lands and adjacent islands, would indicate that, as the proper place for commencing 
a settlement. 

The climate is so mild that not the least apprehension may be had about the 
health of newly-arrived emigrants. In the vicinity are small portions of land 
which may, by irrigation from wells, be made to produce vegetables, grain, fruits, 
grapes, sugar-cane, cotton, and almost any other production of the temperate 
zone. The fisheries around the bays, harbors, lagoons, and coasts of this Pen- 
insula will afford an e.xhaustless source of suljsistence to the patient and skillful 
Chinese. Whales seek these mild waters for calving, and the pearl oysters 
abound near the shores. 

The Chinese will make industrious, frugal and thrifty colonists, and being 
accustomed to a scale of wages at home not exceeding ten cents per day, will 
eagerly seek a country which offers a better reward for their labor. 

In China, hundreds of thousands never set foot on land, and own none to 
cultivate. It may, therefore, be reasonably considered that the opportunity of 
acquiring lands, mines, and fisheries, so liberally offered by your Company, will 
speedily induce as large an influx of colonists as it would be prudent to 
encourage. 

The right of citizenship, freedom from taxes and duties, exemption from 
military service, and opportunity to transplant an ancient civihzation to the only 
unoccupied part of the Pacific coast, are advantages which will not be overlooked 
by these intelligent and sagacious people. 

With an earnest desire to aid, in any proper manner, your laudable design to 
colonize this otherwise valueless territory, 

I am, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. ROSS BROWNE. 



MR. WILKES TO MR. ROMERO. 

Washington, 18th June, 1868. 
Hon, M. Romero, 

Minister, &c., cfcc, &c.: 

Sir, — I am requested by the Board of Directors of the Lower California 
Company to lay before Your Excellency, for the information of your Govern- 
ment, the enclosed correspondence with His Excellency J. Ross Browne, 
Minister from the United States to China, in relation to the manner in which 
the Company propose to colonize the peninsula of Lower California and to 
develop the natural resources of the same, as is required by the Mexican govern- 
ment under its grant or contract with Jacob P. Leese, bearing date March 30th, 
1864. 

Your Excellency will perceive by this correspondence, that it is the intention 
of the Company to inaugurate their system of implanting colonists upon the 
uninhabited lands of Lower California with an importation of Chinese laborers 



19 

and will also perceive that it is their further intention to loyally observe, in all 
their contracts and dealings with said colonists, the liberal and beneficent 
spirit of the Mexican constitution, as reflected through the 9th, 10th, 12th, 
13th, and 14th sections of said grant, in said correspondence referred to. 
These generous provisions, so different from the hard terms upon which Spain 
receives this same class of colonists in Cuba, cannot but present to the world a 
noble contrast in favor of the enlightened policy of Mexico. Hoping that 
this proposed influx upon the idle lands of Lower California of intelligent, frugal, 
industrious, and law-abiding people under such regulations as the Company have 
prescribed, and in faithful subordination to the laws of Mexico, may meet with 
the approbation of Your Excellency and Your Excellency's Government, I have 
the honor to be, 

Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

GEO. WILKES, Director, &c. 

The above letter was sent to Mr. Eomero, at Washington, at a time 
when he was absent from his Legation, and it did not consequently 
receive an immediate reply. Upon being subsequently spoken to upon 
the subject matter, by the writer of it, Mr. Romero expressed his cor- 
dial approbation of the colonizing programme of the Company, and 
stated his readiness to give an approval of the same in writing. It 
so happened, however, that the great amount of business which pressed 
upon Mr. Eomero during his brief stay in the United States, in June, 
and July last, diverted his attention from this promise until the very 
morning of his departure from New York (July 18th), for Vera Cruz. 
It was at a late hour on that morning, and just as Mr. Romero was 
about leaving his hotel for the steamer, that he hastily made the fol- 
lowing answer. It is inserted here merely to show that the proposed 
Asiatic emigration will undoubtedly be favored and promoted by the 
Mexican Governments as well as by the United States and Chmese 
Governments. 

REPLY OF MR. ROMERO. 

New York, July 16th, 1868; 
Geokge Wilkes, Esq., 

New York City : 
My Dbae Sir: — As you have expressed a desire that I will give you my 
views on the Chinese Colonization in Mexico, and more particularly in Lower 
California, I have no hesitancy in saying that I think favorably of it, since Mex- 
ico needs colonization as much as anything else, and I believe it difficult to have 
emigrants from a homogeneous race. 

I am, sir, in great haste, very truly and respectfully. 

Tour obedient servant, 

M. ROMERO. 



20 
MR. CALEB GUSHING TO MR. BURLINGAME. 

Washington, July 20, 1868. 

Sir: — 1 address you, at the request, and in behalf, of the Lower California 
Company. 

Oral information has already, communicated to you, touching the rights, been 
the purposes, and the plans of this Company; and the object of the present 
communication is to submit the same formally and in writing for your appro- 
bation. 

The Company hold a colonization concession from the Mexican Government 
of a large part of the Mexican territory of Lower California. 

They conceive tliat their concession affords a most auspicious opportunity for 
free emigration and settlement on the part of the Chinese, in a country of 
healthful climate and of great mineral and other resources, where they may 
form themselves into self-governing municipal corporations, acquire land, and 
engage in productive industrial enterprises, under the safeguard and protection 
of the laws of the Mexican Republic. 

The Company are assured that this plan will have the approval of the 
Mexican G-overnment, in proof of which the accompanying correspondence is 
laid before you. 

In the expectation that the plan will prove acceptable also to the Chinese 
Government, measures have been taken by the Company to promote and 
facilitate the transit of settlers from China to Lower California. 

Tour Excellency's approval of the plan is now solicited, in the confidence that 
it is in perfect consonance with other objects of your high and important mission, 
and that it offers signal advantages to all persons in China, who may desire to 
emigrate to America. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

C. CUSHING. 
His Excellency Anson Burlingame. 



MR. BURLINGAME TO MR. CUSHING. 



Boston, August 25th, 1868. 

Sir: — I have received your letter of the 20th ult., addressed in behalf of the 
Lower California Company. 

You perceive that the treaty, recently concluded between the Chinese Govern- 
ment and that of the United States, while recognizing the voluntary emigration 
of Chinese to other countries, contemplates their personal security in the United 
States, in return for the security of Americans in China. I cannot allow myself 
to doubt that the principles of reciprocal confidence and respect, and of interna- 
tional justice and faith, which the provisions of the treaty consecrate as between 
China and the United States, will be accepted by other Powers, in my negotia- 
tions with them, and thus become the public law of Europe and America. And 
the letter of the distinguished Mexican Minister, Mr. Romero, shows that the 
same principles are spontaneo'isly admitted as the basis of the foreign policy of 
the liberal and enlightened President of the Mexican Republic. 

I hesitate not, therefore, to express my personal approbation of the plan of 
the Lower California Company for promoting and facilitating the settlement of 
Chinese emigrants in Lower California ; and I venture to assume, in view of 



21 



the peculiar advantages af municipal self-government and unchallenged equality 
of right which such emigrants will enjoy there, thar the plan will prove agree- 
able to the Imperial Government. 

ANSON BURLINGAME. 
The Hon. Caleb Gushing. 



The foregoing correspondence, indicates that the destiny of the 
Lower California portion of that coast is clearly and forcibly 
foreseen. A glance at the map will show that the whole penin- 
sula of Lower California is being rapidly surrounded, on every 
side, by the symptoms of a mighty progress, and that its mere geogra- 
phical position alone will not long exempt it from performing a distin- 
guished part in the westward future of this continent. This being the 
case, and without considering the questions of its agricultural capacity, 
its wondrous climate, its facilities for Asiatic settlement, or for the culti- 
vation of opium, silk, and other Oriental products, it is only necessary, 
at present, for all reasonably practical purposes, to inquire whether the 
interests of the peninsula are entrusted to hands in the Lower 
California Company, which can utilize every feature of its value, 
and whether the title and the programme of that Company are 
sufficiently liberal and comprehensive to warrant public confi- 
dence. It is but necessary, in reply to this, to refer again to the 
Mexican grant and American charter, and likewise to the endorse- 
ment which the programme of the Company has met with from 
the highest diplomatic functionaries of Mexico, China, and the United 
States. This endorsement has been given on the part of Mexico, by 
the Hon. M. Romero, formerly Minister to the United States, but now 
Mexican Secretary of the Treasury ; on the part of the United States, 
by Hon. J. Ross Browne, Minister of the United States to China ; 
and on the part of China by Hon. Anson Burlingame, Minister Pleni- 
potentiary and Extraordinary from the Celestial Empire to the world. 
When, to this endorsement, it is added that the Company comprises in, 
its list of members and directors some of the most distinguished lawyers 
and publicists of America, it may be said the last evidence has been 
given, not only of the title of the Company, but of the substantial 



22 

prospects of their prioject. "With the good will, therefore, not to say 
the active co-operation of the diplomatic functionaries above named, in 
promoting the population of and the development of new markets upon 
the Western coast of the Pacific, and with the direct aid of the United 
States Commissioner of Agriculture to China, as the Company's 
Asiatic Agent of Colonization, no preliminary effort or guarantee 
seems to have been overlooked to insure the Company's success. 



APPEI^DIX. 



CHINESE SETTLEMENT IN LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

BY REV. DR. MARTIN. 

The Rev. Dr. Wm. M. Martin — well known as a missionary in China, 
and as a popular lecturer in California and the Atlantic States upon 
the subject of the immediate future of the American and Asiatic 
coasts of the Pacific — a man of profound thought and great experi- 
ence—writes as follows : 

November 20, 1868. 
Secretary Lower California Co., 

Dear Sir, — Tour favor is at hand, requesting me "to peruse the enclosed pam- 
phlet on Lower California, and to communicate to you my opinion on the 
resources of that territory, and the plans of the Lower California Company of 
colonizing with Asiatics. Also, especially to give my views upon the best steps 
for the Company to take in Christianising such colonists ; the building at once of 
churches, Sabbath-schools, and the editing of a local religious and literary 
journal." 

Save for grape culture, which in the Foot Hills where it is most successful, 
and requires no water, the agricultural resources of the Peninsula depend 
evidently upon irrigation. Even the alkali soils of Nevada, covered only with 
sage brush, will yield under irrigation one hundred bushels of barley to the acre. 
This is a tested fact. With artesian wells, and such use as can be made of 
mountain streams, under the influence of growth in the atmosphere of that 
coast, no doubt a cultivation like that which the Mormons have secured, in 
somewhat similar circumstances in Utah, could be attained. 

The resources of Lower California, however, are to be found chiefly in its 
mountains and waters. The compensation of the Pacific is, that, where there are 
not rich alluvions, there are rich deposits of mineral wealth. 

The Rocky Mountain system, from Cape Horn to the Arctic, is true to this 
law of compensation. "Where there are no rivers, and where the basins of large 
streams like the LTpper Columbia and Upper Colorado and Missouri have never 
been hemmed in long enough by mountain barriers to secure deep alluvial 
deposits, there uniformally are unbounded mineral resources. The very up- 
heaval of these high basins and mountain elevations, necessary to the metamor- 
phism of the rocks in their mineral formations, necessarily involves destitution 
of alluvious; whilst, with irrigation, undoubted agricultural products would 
result ; a large and well-managed capital, employed in developing the mineral 



24 

resources of the peninsula, with sufficient irrigation for agricultural and horti- 
cultural suppUes, would be the most fertile of results. 

Mining on the Pacific has been suffering from adventitious causes — costly 
labor, costly transportation, small and I badly-managed capital and stock-jobbing. 
Legitimate mining, such as is done in Europe, hardly exists on the Pacific. And 
yet the Rocky Mountaia system — comprising the Andes, Cordilleras, Rocky 
proper. Sierra Nevada, and Coast ranges — are the embowelment of the richest 
treasures of the globe. That Lower California would pay well-directed capital 
at one-quarter the present cost of labor, at which Asiatics could be employed is 
not even problematical. 

The Chinaman is the ox of the Pacific — patient, enduring, tractable, and reliable 
as no other laborer — quick to discern, never failing to obey the directions given 
or the manner of performance. These people can all read, are accessible to 
Christian effort, and, like all the races of the Pacific, most ready to embrace 
the Christian religion. The idol temples in China are now closed, and, by an 
edict of the Emperor, forever. Four thousand regenerated souls are the results 
of a few short years of Christian effort. The results of Christian civilization and 
Yankee progress are now attracting the Asiatics generally, and Chinese in partic- 
ular, througli their representative thousands in our country, as the Irish and 
other peoples of Europe are attracted by their representatives in this country. 
Millions of Chinese laborers are now upon our soil, and the mission work of 
American Churches will soon, by necessity, be transferred to our own soil. 

No doubt the Company can offer inducements to Evangelical bodies to under- 
take the Christianizing of their colonists. Well directed appliances have already 
by actual experiment been tested in China and California. My judgment is that, 
either or all the denominations which have prepared for this work among that 
people would, with such encouragement as the interests of the Company would 
warrant, be willing to enter upon all the labor of evangelization. 
Yours, very truly, 

WM. M. MARTIN. 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

By ALBXAJSTDER S, TAYLOR, 

Author of the " Bibliografla Californica entre 1554-1867," " The Indianolo^y of California," 
etc. ; Hon. Mem. of the California Academy of Sciences, and of the Mercantile Library 
of San Francisco. 

There is no such thing in existence as a present and past history of the Cali- 
fornia Peninsula, which may be said to have been the mother of the State of 
California. The missionary histories prior to 1700 are well as far as they go, but 
are full of omissions, mistakes, grave errors of fact, and innumerable errors of type, 
all of which have been copied in every publication issued down to the present day, 
and making " confusion worse confounded." This little work is not designed as 
a serious history, the printed materials for which would take years to digest and 
arrange, and the consulting of immense numbers of manuscripts in California, 
Mexico, and Spain, kept secret, from government motives, which alone would oc- 
cupy a lifetime. The sketch is intended as an historical iirecis, or procession of 
events, from the past to the present times, which has never been made before — 
a skeleton guide collated, compared, and deraigued from the most authentic and 
reliable sources, acd the chapters and materials are compiled and arranged in a 
manner, we hope, convenient and simple, the plan of which has never been at-' 
tempted before in any work relating to the Pacific Coast. It will thus, we flatter 
ourseives, be found useful to the immigrant, the merchant, the seaman, and nav- 
igator, the naturahst, the journalist, the traveler, the statesman, the historian, 



25 

the miner, the manufacturer, and the speculator, and, we may add, it is made 
from the study of long years of California life. 

Having been pressed, as it were, into a remote corner of the world for over 
three centuries, the progress of events induced by the discovery of gold in 1848 
has brought thousands of ships and millions of men m sight of the peninsular 
shores for the last twenty years ; yet that immense country is still empty — a 
mere frame without a picture. But the rapid completion of railroad communica- 
tions across the continent, with hourly telegrams, the steamer lines now securely 
connecting between Cape Horn and the Oregon, the opening in 1867 of the 
steamer routes to Australia and China, and the institution of legalized railroad 
corporations to connect the Gulf of California with the Bay of San Francisco 
and the Gulf of Mexico, will very soon draw, voluntary or not, the California pe- 
ninsula within the periphery of events, big with the fate of the future States, 
commonwealths, nations, and empires of the great ocean which the Divine Father 
of All seems ordaining for the immediate future. 

FIRST MENTION AND NAME OF CALIFORNIA. 

After the subjugation of the empire at Montezuma by Ferdinand Cortez, in 
1522, pearls, emeralds, turquoises, garnets, and particular specimens of gold, silver, 
and copper, fell to the lot of the conquerors, among much other spoils of trea- ■ 
sure. The courtiers of the Aztec emperor informed the Spaniards that these trea- 
sures came from the countries and coasts of the ocean, a great way to the west 
and northwest of the capital. The King of Michoacan and the caciques of his prov- 
ince of Colinia called this country of treasures Ciguatan, a nnme adopted by the 
conquerors until they first discovered the shores of the gulf below 27", when it 
often went by the name of Santiago, from a place on the coast of Tehuantepec, 
where Cortez dispatched his first expedition of 1532. It was, after 1532, called 
Santa Cruz, from the bay wliere anchored Ximenez, the first European who was 
certainly knoiun to have landed on the peuin.gula. At this time it also obtained 
the name of Islas de Perlas, from the accounts and specimens brought to Cortez 
by the companions of Ximenez. It was then often called the Islas Amazons, 
from a fable current in Mexico of a nation of female warriors in these parts, and 
also bay, or gulf, or country " de Bellenas," or whales. A.fterthe visit of Cortez 
in 1535, it first acquired the name of California, or the Islas de California. 
After the death of Cortez it often went by the name oi. Islas Carolinas, from the 
Emperor Charles Y., or from Charles the Second of Spain, under which term it 
is set down in many old maps and charts, and as late as that of Anson in 1740. 
After the Jesuit settlement of 1690, the name of California became more and 
more confirmed, until, on the publication of the Jesuit Histories after 1750, it 
became permanently recognized in history, navigation, and geography under that 
title. After the settlements of San Diego and Monterey of 1770, the lower 
portions began to be styled California Peninsular, California Antigua, or Vieja, 
and Baja California, and the country beyond the Gila junction of the Colorado 
and its parallel to the ocean, as Nueva California,, California Norte, and the Alta 
California. It was not till the American conquest of 1846 that the name of the 
peninsula was confirmed in commerce as Lower California, and the northern 
countries as Upper California, by which terms they are now more fully known 
in politics and letters than the Spanish titles, leaving out the political divisions of 
this last, forming subsequent to 1846 what is now known as the Pacific domain 
of the United States of America. 

THE GULF OP CALIFORNIA — ITS TITLES. 

This great arm of the Pacific, which penetrates the American continent deeper 
than any other in the New World, runs from near 23° to that of 31° 30', or a 
length of say 600 geographical miles, to where it receives the waters of the Co- 
orado of the West. It acquired its name of the Gidfo de Cortez, or Mar de Cortez, 



26 

from the great captain, who visited it in 1531. Its other names of Mar Vermig- 
lion, Mar Rojo, and Mar Vermijo, seem to have been first applied in 1537-1540, 
after the explorations ofUlloa and Alarcon, from the reddish color of its waters, 
and the accounts given of its shores by Nuno de Guzman and his officers, the 
first conquerors of Sinaloa. * * * The Gulf of California bathes the entire 
lengths of the eastern shores of Lower California and of the western boundaries 
of the States of Sinaloa and Sonora, until these lines are absorbed by the waters 
of the Colorado ; that is, its shore line is 1,200 miles in length. In its northern 
parts it is full of sand-bars, shoals, hidden rocks, shallow soundings, and danger- 
ous currents, while its southern portions contain the finest harbors, bays, and 
anchorages, with the safest navigation for the major portion of the year. Its 
breadth ranges all the way from twenty miles at its head to 250 miles at its en- 
trance been Cape San Lucas and the port of Mazatlan. 

ITS OCEAN LINES, COASTS, AND NORTHERN LIMITS. 

From Cape San Lucas, in a little below 23°. the ocean coast carries a general 
northwest direction for the distance of, say, TOO geographical miles to a parallel 
line one marine league from the southernmost point of the Bay of San Diego, 
near a place called Tia Juana, according to the Mexican treaty of 1848. To 
identify this line beyond dispute, a marble monument was erected by the bound- 
ary commissioners of the United States and Mexico in 1850, opposite the Co- 
ronada Islets, and which monument is situated in a fraction over 32° 31' of lat- 
itude, and 117° 06' longitude of Greenwich. The ocean shores run at least 
100 miles farther north than those of the extreme head of the gulf This section 
of the peninsula, for 50 nautical leagues on the sea-coast below the boimdary, 
is one of the finest districts for health, climate, and fertility, the climate partic- 
ularly being one of the most uniform and delightful m the world. 

THE ISLANDS OP THE OCEAN AND GULP COASTS. 

The first island on the Pacific, after passing Cape San Lucas, is that of Santa 
Margarita, which is 22 miles in length and 5 to 10 miles in breadth, according 
to De Fleury'smap of 1864. According to Payot's map, 1863, there are several 
unnamed islands in the bay of Magdalena, of which Margarita forms its southern 
defence, not at all inserted in De Fleury's map of 1864, nor is there any des- 
cription of these either in Belcher or Findley. In fact, this part of the coast 
has never been accurately located — a crying evil, as one steamer and several 
vessels have been lost or greatly damaged in these parts since 1850. The small 
island of Cresciente is within sight of Margarita to the northeast, and only two 
or three miles from the mainland. 

About 280 miles above Margarita is the island of Natividad, some four miles 
long and two broad. This, with the island of Cedros, form the southwest 
defences of the bay of Sebastian Viscaino, so called from that navigator's an- 
chorage here in 1602. Cedros is some 25 miles long by five in breadth ; to the 
west of it are the small islets of San Benito. Going up the coast, no other 
important islands are met with till that of San Geronimo is reached, 140 miles 
from Cedros, and situated opposite the Mission of La Eosario, and which is 
only four or five miles in length. The lest island met with after Geronimo is 
Cenisas, near the bay of San Quentin, which is only two or three miles in 
length. 

The island of Guadelupe, nearly due west from Cedros, and 120 miles from 
the coast in lat. 28° 45', is also included in the territory of Lower California. 
The position of this island was definitely fixed by Admiral Du Petit Thenars in 
November, 1837, though it was approximately located on several old Spanish 
and other charts even prior to 1820 ; it is only a mass of rocks some twenty 
miles in circumference, and has often been visited since 1850 by California otter- 
hunters and whalers. 



27 

Going from Cape San Lucas up the Gulf, about 100 miles north, the first is- 
land of the gulf is that of Geralbo (or White Hills), some 12 miles in length, and 
stated to contain copper mines of great value. The second is Espiritu Santo, 
about six miles long, containing also very rich copper-mines. This last island 
blocks the mouth of the bay of La Paz, which runs southeast for some 20 miles, 
in the western corners of which is the minor bay called Pichilingue, containing 
the small island of San Juan Nepoceno. The third island is the small one of 
San Francisco, in sight of wliich is the fourth, known as San Jose, and some 
twelve miles lone The fifth island is called Santa Catalina, and within five or 
six miles of it is the sixth, called Montserrat : these two are about ten miles in 
circumference each. The seventh island is the celebrated one of Carmen, which 
contains beyond all dispute the richest, most pecuhar, and most accessible salt- 
mine in the whole world, and entirely inexhaustible. The Jesuits, about 1730, 
asked from the viceroy a grant of th's mine in perpetuity, from which they 
would maintain their California establishments free of cost to the king's treas- 
ury. Carmen Island is about 25 miles long by six broad, and is within a few 
hours' sail of the old town of LoretLo. Five or six miles beyond it is the eighth 
island, called Coronados, of a few miles' extent. Farther up from Carmen some 
30 miles is the ninth island, San Ildefonso, and within two or three hours' sail, 
that of Santa Isabel, the tenth, at the mouth of Moleje Bay : both of these, with 
three or four others in the bay aforesaid, are only a few miles in extent. The 
three islands called Galapagos, 30 miles above Moleje, are the eleventh, and are 
also only of a few miles' extent ; the Gallapagos are some 25 miles in front and 
to the west of Tortugas island, which is in midchannel and within sight of the 
port of Guaymas on the Sonora coast : this island may be set down for the 
Sonora coast, and, it is said, has an extinct volcano on it. The thirteenth island 
is Trinidad, and the fourteenth San Bernabe, both some twenty miles in circum- 
ference and about forty miles above the Gallapagos. The fifteenth are the Sal 
Si Puedes, three small islands, within sight of two others, known as Las Ani- 
mas and Raza, which together form an archipelago very dangerous for their 
impetuous currents. To the west of Las Animas there are a number of small 
islands close to the mainland, which are not well known by name in geography. 
Between mainland and these, to the eastward, is the Canal de Ballenas, or 
Whales, which divides off the sixteenth, or great island of Angel de la Guarda, 
50 miles in length and about 15 in breadth. Northward of Angel, some fifty 
miles in the bay of San Felipe de Jesus, is the rocky islet or farallpn of Santa 
Felicia. Twenty miles farther northeast is the seventeenth island, called San 
Eugenie, about seven miles around, and sometimes called Farallon de San Eu- 
genio, from a rocky islet close by, off the southern coast of which are some 
extremely dangerous sunken rocks and ledges. Immediately north of San 
Eugenio, at the narrowest part of the gulf, are the eighteenth islands, known as 
Las Reyes, which block the entrance of the Colorado and gulf Above these 
last are a number of largo flat islands, formed by the bores of the river and gulf, 
which are enclosed within the banks of the river, and a regular network of simi- 
lar formations is nearly to the junction of the Gila, and which all belong to 
Mexican territory. 

Coming down the gulf from the river on the loest shore of Sonoi'a, or the eastern 
waters of the gulf, is first the small island of Patos, which is some 130 miles south- 
east of San Eugenio. A narrow strait divides this from the large island of Tiburon, 
some twenty miles long and ten broad, and which can be seen from above the 
city of Hermosillo in clear weather. Below Tiburon, some 25 miles, in San 
Pedro Martyr Island, and 30 miles farther south, is that of San Marco, a few 
miles north of Guaymas, the bay of which port has several smallfislets. To the 
south of Guaymas, 50 miles, is the small island of Lobus. At the mouth of the 
River Smaloa are five or six small islands, among the principal of which is San 
Ignacio and Macapula. Below the mouth of the River Culiacan are several 
long, low islands along the coast, which are, however, very little known in nav- 



28 

igation or commerce. To the south of these last, to the port of Mazatlan, the 
coast is generally clean, with open aspects ; seaward at the mouth of the gulf, 
where the ocean swells, in the hurricane months, beat with immense surfs and 
rollers of overwhelming force After the stormy season has passed, the navigation 
of the gulf is one of the safest and most delightful in any sea, for more than 
eight months of the year. But the above-named islands of the eastern waters 
belong in no way to Lower Calirornia, but pertain entirely to Sinaloa and 
Sonora. 

All this immense stretch and lines of 1,200 miles of gulf coast and 700 miles 
of ocean shores, with their islands, are entirely unfixed MjdrograplncaUy, either 
in books, charts, or maps, except a few points by Spanish navigators, iDCtween 
1770 and 1800, by the Eughsh and French, between 1824 and 1850, and by 
Americans, between 1846 and 1866, the most accurate of which are those of 
Admiral Belcher in 1839, confined, however, only to four or five localities on the 
ocean coast. With the wealth of minerals, fisheries, agriculture, and commerce, 
which is opening on these wonderful territories, and the Immense amount of 
shipping which sails dail}'^ within sight of its sea lines, the scientific survey of 
them by competent persons is loudly called for by the principal maritime powers 
of the world : probably it could be better done by a joint co.nmission of lydro- 
graphists of the great naval powers. There is not an island in all those we 
have mentioned, in the gulf or in the Pacific, except Santa Margarita, Cedros, 
and Guadelupe, whose true positions or superficial dimensions are known in 
navigation, geography, or history, and only a few of them are inhabited, and 
then only by a few fishermen. If all these islands, which contain immense 
resources in excellent harbors, in minerals, in fisheries, and in pearl-oyster banks, 
were joined together, they would make a district of country 100 miles long by 80 
miles broad, and at a rough estimate they would make one-fifteenth of the 
superficies of the peninsula. 

THE HARBOKS, BATS, AND PORTS OF THE PENINSULA. 

Coming from San Diego to the south on the Pacific, the best known harbors 
are: 

First. The Bay of Todos Santos, near which is the well-known locality, called 
the Sausal de Comacho, where salt has been procured in abundance since 1855. 
It makes a fine harbor for vessels under 400 tons, and is now often resorted to 
by whalers and others. A grant of great extent covers the jands of this bay 
claimed by Jose Y. Limantour. 

Second. To the southward, about 100 miles, is tlie fine bay and port of San 
Quintin, sometimes called in maps and charts San Francisco, and also Bay of the 
Eleven Thousand Virgins of Cologne: San Quintin is the term now generally 
known in navigation. The apex of the bay at the north has valuable salinas or 
salt-beds, which have been worked since 1853, and the sail from its superior 
quality is well known in the San Francisco markets. A large grant of land is 
also laid down here as belonging to Limantour. 

Third. To the southward, some 130 miles, is the great bay of Sebastian Vis- 
caino, made by Cedros and Natividad Islands ; its western aspects are ■ utirely 
open to the west for one-half of its length. It has a small arm at its northern 
apex, called Pescado Blanca, where is a valuable salt-bed, in the vicinity of which 
is the grant of Mr. Millatowitch, a well-known Russian citizen of California. 
Several extensive lagoons make into the land, according to Payot's map, which 
are laid down in no other map. A third grant, some 60 miles long and 20 broad, 
covering all the neighboring lands of the bay, is also here claimed by Limantour. 
Valuable salinas are found all along the shores of this bay, which was discovered 
by Viscaino in 1602, though on many maps it is put down as the Bay of San 
Francisco and also Saint Sebastian ; on others, the Bay of Magdalena is located 
here. 



'29 

Fourth. Some ten miles below Natividad Island is the small bay of San Bar- 
tholomew, often called Turtle Bay, which contains valuable fisheries of turtle, 
used for the supply of the San Francisco market. 

Fifth. One hundred miles below San Bart's, after doubling Point Abreojos, is 
Ballenas Bay, which in 27° runs into the laud for twenty miles, and is the 
resort of innumerable whales in the calving season, and from which hundreds 
of tons of oil have been shipped to San Francisco and the East since 1853. 

Sixth. One hundred and fifty miles below Ballenas opens up the Great Gulf or 
Bay of La Magdalena, discovered by Cabrillo in 1542, rediscovered by Yiscaino 
in 1602, and found from the descriptions of this last by the Jesuit Father Guillen 
in 1719. It is often mentioned by Spanish navigators, and is one of the most 
extensive on the west coast of America, but was not known properly in naviga- 
tion till Admiral Belcher's visit of 1839. The bay forms into a great many rami- 
fications and arms, and is about fifty miles in extreme length, with several low, 
sandy islands, as wqII as rocky ones ; its breadth ranges all the way from five 
to twenty miles. For the last fifty years it has been the resort of American 
whalers, sealers, and other hunters, and since 1854 regular establishments of this 
class from California have aggregated on its shores until quite a settlement is 
now formed. It is also much resorted to by Chinamen from San Francisco for 
gathering the raollusk called aulon, the meat of which is so much esteemed by 
the wealthy people of China. 

Seventh. Some fifty miles below Magdalena the small bay of Todos Santos Mis- 
sion is reached, near which are some of the most fertile spots of the peninsula. 

Eighth. About thirty-five miles farther (south), at the extremity of Lower Cali- 
fornia, Cape San Lucas, the most celebrated promontory on the west coast of 
America, is reached. And here we begin to turn north and east up the grand 
portals of the Gulf of California, of whose best harbors, ports, and bays, we shall 
now make such detail as is warranted from what has been noted of them, not a 
single one of which, however, has been properly surveyed. 

Ninth. The first is the roadstead of the old Mission of San Jose, often called 
San Jose del Cabo or of the Cape, from its proximity to Cape San Lucas, and 
appears to be the same as the Bay of San Bernarbe or Porto Seguro of old charts ; 
from the cape it is distant some twenty miles near the mouth of the small river 
or arroyo of San Jose. This is a frequent stopping-place for whalers and the 
schooners running from Guaymas, Mazatlau, San Francisco, and San Bias, and a 
considerable quantity of fertile land is found in its vicinity. 

Tenth. Eighty miles above San Jose is the well-known bay of La Paz, which 
penetrates the land to the south some twenty-five miles from Espiritu Santo 
Island, having a varying breadth of from six to ten miles. This is one of the 
safest and finest bays and harbors in the two Californias, and has been known in 
navigation and history for 350 years. It has been celebrated all this time for 
the abundance of pearl-oysters, and has produced pearls among the most valued 
gems of the jeweller and lapidary, and prized in the regalia of kings, emperors, 
and princes. It was the centre of operations of the American naval and military 
forces in 1846 to 1848, and is now the depot for the Mexican coast line of steam- 
ers from San Francisco. Since 1830 it has been the capital of Lower California, 
where all government operations centre. 

Tenth. Tlie next harbor is the small one of the old Presidio of Loretto. which 
has been known since 1700. It is formed by the Coronado and Carmen Islands, 
and makes a fine anchorage in ordinary seasons ; in its vicinity the pearl-oyster 
was formerly found in the greatest abundance. 

Eleventh. The next harbor north of Loretto of value is that of Moleje, so 
called from an Indian camp found there by the Jef=uits before 1730. It is about 
20 miles deep by an average of five, and is considered the best in the gulf after 
La Paz. It is famous for the extent of its pearl-oyster beds, and was resorted 
to by the divers from the Sinaloa coast in the time ol Cortez. 

Twelfth. Above Moleje the coast of the peninsula abounds in small harbors, 



30 

none of which are frequented or much better known than in the time of Father 
Consan's voyage of 1746, the countrj^ having very few inhabitants above Moleje. 
The large bay of Los Angeles, 180 miles above Moleje, capable as is said of hold- 
ing hundreds of small vessels, has been frequently resorted to within the last ten 
years, and its waters and those of Angel Island abound in a peculiar species of 
whale and rich banks of pearl-oysters. Copper, sulphur, and argentiferous lead 
minerals are said to be very abundant in the country around its shores, as 
intimated by Consag in 1746. 

Thirteenth. Above this bay of Los Angeles, some 160 miles, is the bay and 
port of San Felipe Jesus, which has been established since 1858, principally by 
the exertions of Mr. Willatowich, who has here another grant of land. This is 
described as a fine little ha"bor, and has been used by American vessels bound 
to the Colorado, and for connnunications overland to the bay of San Quintin on 
the ocean coast, and for trading with the Indian tribes in the country around the 
peninsular head of the gulf. It was formerly, with that of Los Angeles, used by 
the Jesuits and the Dominicans for conveying stores and effects in the founding 
of the missions on the ocean coast above Santa Grertrudes, between 1760 and 
1800, and since 1858 has attracted considerable attention. There is now (1867) 
said to be a small settlement here. 

Above San Felipe there are no ports or harbors worth mentioning, as they 
are said to be shallow and but little frequented, or fitted for commerce, from the 
dangerous shoals and cayes formed by the deposits of the Colorado. All the 
forementioned islands, harbors, bays, and ports of the gulf, were first made 
known and named by Padre Pedro Ugarte, in his voyage up the gulf in 1721, in 
the sloop Triumph of the Cross, and more thoroughly and in detail by Father 
Fernando Consag in 1746, continued in small degree by Padre Winceslao Link 
in 1765 ; since that period nothing has been done in these gulf lines of any 
account. 

THE FIRST AND SECOND VOYAGES OF SEBASTIAN VISCAINO. 

Of the two voyages of Viscaino, in the seventeenth century, Taylor gives 
voluminous accounts, from which the following are extracts : 

"In 1596, Sebastian Viscaino was dispatched from Acapulco with three ves- 
sels, having on board four Franciscan friars, to make a settlement in the country 
of California, found by Fernandez Cortez, where he arrived after touching at the 
isles of Mazatlan. At the isles of Mazatlan fifty of his men deserted, and Vis- 
caino stretched across the mouth of tlie gulf and lauded first at the bay of San 
Sebastian, and, not finding this suitable, went farther up the bay of Santa Cruz, 
where Cortez had made his colony in 1537, and at which he found many remains. 
This bay of Santa Cruz, or Puerto de Cortez, is said to be the same now known 
as the bay of La Paz, the name given to it by Viscaino from the peaceable 
character of the Indians, who here received him with good-will. They found in 
the seas near by fish of all kinds in the greatest abundance, and pearl oysters 
very plentiful. One of his vessels was dispatched up the gulf some one hundred 
leagues to make further explorations, on returning from which a body of fifty of 
the men were attacked by a large number of Indians, who killed nineteen of the 
men and wounded all the rest ; the enemy, robbing the dead soldiers, decked 
themselves in their clothes and arms, and danced defiance to the invaders in 
sight of tlie ship. On arriving at La Paz, where he had stopped two months, 
Viscaino, finding his provisions running low, his houses being burnt, and his 
shipping getting out of repair, concluded to discontinue the enterprise, as too 
risky for his means and material, and, embarking his forces, arrived at Acapulco 
in October, 1596. During their stay in California, the four priests made diligent 
eff"orts to instruct the Indians in religion, and, with the humanit}- and prudence 
of Viscaino. succeeded in making them friends to the new visitors. 

"Philip II. having died in 1598, his successor, Philip III., in 1599, and twelve 
months after the death of his father, directed the Count de Monterey, still acting 
as viceroy, to dispatch Viscaino on a second expedition. 



31 

" The expedition, consisting of four vessels, the Capitana, Santo Tomas, the 
Tliree Kings, and a smaller boat for entering the rivers, sailed in May of that 
year, and arrived near the Mazatlan Islands early in June, from whence they 
departed for California, and on the 14th June anchored in the place where 
Cavendish had burnt the Santa Anna, and to which Viscaino gave the name of 
San Bernabe, referred to before in our account, and so called to this day in 
many modern charts, and which is the same as the Puerto Seguro of Cavendish. 

" At this place fish of all kinds were found in such abundance that boats could 
be loaded with very little labor, and pearl oysters strewed the shores in such 
unaccountable quantities as to make the beach appear like an immense pavement 
of brilliant mosaics ; game, wood, and water were also in abundance, and the 
Indian population was civil and numerous. 

" After four attempts to sail out of San Bernabe and frustrated by the north- 
'west winds and fogs, the fleet finally got out on the 5th July, and passed the 
highlands northwest of the cape, known as the Sierra Enfadosa, and on the 20th 
Viscaino brought his vessel to anchor in the great bay of La Magdalena, discov- 
ered by Cabrillo, and some ocean points of which were mentioned by UUoa. 
The bay was found to be very spacious, and populated with numerous rancherias 
of docile Indians, and abounded in immense shoals of fish, whales, pearl oysters, 
seals of all kinds, mussels, and other marine animals. On the 28th July they 
left the bay, above which the land gradually fell down into a pleasant and level 
countrjr, the mountains retiring far inland, and on the 30th passed near to the 
mouth of a river with dangerous breakers. This fact has been often doubted ; 
but recent explorations of that vicinity, up to 1864, show that there are three 
streams above Magdalena, which in the tuinter season are full to the sea. A short 
distance above this they found a large bay, named by them from the immense 
number of whales seen, Baja de Ballenas, in the position of which no two maps 
or charts agree. It was inhabited by myriads of sea-birds, and all kinds of shell 
and scale fish were found in the greatest abundance ; pearl oysters were also 
found here, which seems to be their northern limits. Some eight leagues above 
this they came to an island called the San Roque, on the 31st July, and to 
another on the 5th August, called Asuncion, which seems to be the same as 
those situated a few leagues below the present Bartolome or Turtle Bay. The 
same abundance of fish and marine animals was met with here, and on shore 
they found a large salina. Passmg by a very high mountain above, of bare and 
naked rocks of varied and beautiful formations, which they named the Sierra 
Pintada, or painted mountain, where great mines of gold and silver were sup- 
posed to be. This mountain they were a week in passing, which on weathering, 
they passed the island of Natividad or Cabrillo, and came to anchor, on the 19th 
of August, under the isle of Cedros. Near San Bartolome, they met with immense 
quantities of bitumen of an amber color, which was likely, from the beds of 
asphaltum said to abound in that vicinity, and which they say had a very bad 
smell : this fact was also mentioned by Cabrillo. The weather was so bad at 
these places, then the last days of August, that he left and returned to Isle 
Cedros several times, from the prevalence of the northwest winds, and they were 
constantly being separated from the other ships. Cedros Island was found 
covered with trees of pine and cedar, and inhabited by numbers of bold Indians. 
To the north and east an immense bay formed, which is now named, and gener- 
ally acknowledged in geography, as the bay of Sebastian Viscaino, and not that 
just north of Magdalena Bay, as located by De Mofras and others. On the 9th 
September they left the island, steering northwest toward the mainland, and met 
with the Isle Cenizas ; shortly afterward, on the mainland, a bay called by them 
San Hypolito, surrounded by a very beautiful country, near which is situated at 
present the ex-Missions of La Rosaria and Santo Domingo, the bay appearing to 
be the same sometimes called San Francisco, and now known as Las Virgenes; 
four leagues from which was the bay of Santos Cosmo and Damian, near the 
shore of which was a large fresh-water lake and with a fine level country in the 



32 

neighborhood, which appears to answer to the present bay of San Quintin. In 
this vicinity they passed by the Mesas, or table-lands, of San Cyprian, which 
appear to be tlie same as the curious five Hummocks of Vancouver (1792), form- 
ing five distinctly separated hills rising from level lands, not far from which is 
the Cape Engauo of Cabrillo and Viscaiuo, supposed to be the same as Cape 
Cblnett of the present maps. The greatest confusion obtains in this part of 
Viscaino's account, and his chart, published by Navarette in 1802, gives scarcely 
any assistance in identifying his numerous anchorages ; this may be owing to 
the bad weather he had continually experienced. Passing the islands San 
Geornimo, Cenizas, Pajaros, and Sju Hilario, they came to the bay of San Simon 
and San Jude, placed now in the vicinity of the ex Mission of San Yicente, 
where the Indians were very troublesome ; and this character they bore as late 
as 1816, when they rose in rebellion. On the 1st of November, Viscaino left 
this bay, and, proceeding a few leagues above, came to another large bay sur- 
rounded by lofty mountains, which they named the bay of Todos Santos, a name 
which it retains to this day. Shortly afterward, on the 5th, they discovered the 
Coronadas Rocks, called Islas Desiertas by Cabrillo ; and a short distance north, 
on the 10th of December, they entered a famous port, called by Viscaino San 
Diego, which is the San Miguel of Cabrillo as now accepted in history. 

"The next expedition of marine surveys undertaken by the Jesuits was that 
of 1746, by Father Fernando Consag, of the missions of Dolores del Norte and 
San Ignacio. This indefatigable prlesi was a native of Austria, and came to 
California from Mexico in 1732; he died while superior of the missions, in 1759, 
at the age of 56. Having left Loretto in four open boats, the party arrived in 
a short time at the anchorage of San Carlos, in latitude 28°, from whence they 
departed from the head oi the gulf on the 9th June, 1746, to examine in detail 
the shores, ports, harbors, bays, islands, etc. As manj^ of the positions and 
places mentioned bj- Consag still retain their names on most of the charts and 
maps of the present time, but nevertheless are yet unfamiliar to seamen, and 
their localities little known even in the peninsula to this day with exactitude, 
and some not at all, we shall make merely cursory mention of them, for they 
are all yet to be hydrographically examined and located in all this dangerous 
navigation. The first place he reached was three leagues from San Carlos, 
called Santa Ana watering-place, which makes a harbor, tlie lofty capes of which 
are San Gabriel and Las Virgenes ; farther up was the bay of Trinidad, where 
there is a pearl-fishery, dangerous from reefs and islets ; at the extremity was a 
bay named San Bernarbe, with a low island near by abounding in sea-wolves. 
Farther on is the cape of San Juan Bautista, with a dangerous rocky coast; the 
land is low, of hard clay soil and red appearance. A day's sail beyond is the 
bay of San Miguel ; the anchorage is tolerable, and plenty of sweet water is near 
by. Close to this is the island TortoguiUa, sometimes called Cerro Blanco, the 
shore of whicli is troubled with dangerous currents, surfs, reefs, and rocks. Op- 
posite Cape San Gabriel commences the island of Sal Si Puedes, and a few 
leagues from the cape is the bay of San Rafael, into which empties a small stream, 
called Kadacaman ; in the shores are many caves and boiling springs, some of 
which springs are covered by the high tide ; the water of the bay is tinged in 
patches of red and blue colors. A large pond of good water was found in one 
part of the bay. and the Indians were docile and hospitable, but were enemies of 
the Yaquis of Sonora, begotten of fights and murders growing out of pearl-fisli- 
ing. A day's sail above San Rafael brought them to San Antonia Bay, in sight 
of a dark mountain, having two small rivulets in the vicinity, and a fine fertile 
country is seen. The next day a bay is reached, called Purgatory Bay, with sev- 
eral rivulets and much good country, and many hospitable Indians were found, 
to whom the father preached the Gospel; in the morning the boats were found 
aground, with only a fathom of water. A day's sail farther brings you to Cape 
Las Animas, a few miles to the north of which is the bay of Los Angeles, 
where a very troublesome and numerous tribe of Indians lived, and great ene- 



33 

mies of the pearl-divers ; their young females went entirely naked. A day's 
sail above the Los Angeles is the bay of Our Lady of Remedios, containing a 
.pearl-fishery, in front of which is the island of Angel de la G-uarda, which is 
very rugged and mountainous. The channel between the island and the coast 
was found so full of whales that it was called then, and is still known to this 
day as, the Canal de las Ballenas. 

"In these waters the party found valuable pearl-oyster beds, those near the 
shore being the best. On the mainland near by is a considerable rivulet; the 
anchorages in all these vicinities were found full of dangerous rocks above and 
below water. A short distance off is the watering-place of San Juan and San 
Pablo, near which is a red-colored hill. A day's sail above is a bay shaped like 
the letter G-, full of rocks, called the hay of San Pedro and San Pablo, the water- 
ing-places of which are not very good. A short sail above this bay is another 
very hirge and commodious one, capable of holding any number of vessels, called 
the bay of Snn Luis Gonzaga, in the vicinity of which was afterward founded 
the mission of San Francisco Borja ; in this bay were found great numbers of a 
variety of shells resembling the white pearl-oyster; also several rivulets of 
brackish water enter the bay, filled with fish ; and the Indians were very numer- 
ous. The party dug wells on the shore, but the water was found bad, but at the 
upper end of the bay is a good watering-place, called San Estanislao. In San 
Luis Gronzaga Bay were found pearl-oysters and palm-trees ; it was in this vicin- 
ity the Indians made the earthen jars mentioned by Ugarte twenty years before ; a 
dog was also found among them and mentioned as a special curiositj^, and their 
women went entirely naked. A short distance above Gonzaga Bay opens anoth- 
er bay, called La Yisitacion, which seems to be of little account. Above Yisita- 
cion Bay is that of San Fermin, which is the limit of habitation of the pearl- 
oyster; and a day's sail above is the bay of San Felipe de Jesus, and in another 
day's sail is that of San Buenaventura, '-ifter which are no more harbors, but all 
sand-flats and marshes. 

"At San Felipe, which is due east from the mission of Rosario on the Pacific, 
the water is very thick, of disagreeable odor and taste, and affects those who 
drink it with a sickness similar to scurvy ; the rivulet which affords it is on the 
north side, and the shores of the bay are mostly sandy, and the anchorages ex- 
cellent at high tides and in front of the bay is a high rocky islet or farallon. In 
these vicinities were seen great numbers of wild sheep and wild goats, and in the 
early mornings and evenings the land on the Sonora coast could be distinctly 
seen. About 40 miles above San Felipe some red-colored marshes are reached, 
not far from the mouth of the Colorado, near to which is a bow-shaped creek, 
formed by an island, where the water differs from that of the sea and is caustic, 
and causes such malignant sores and boils as to last for many days, taking off the 
very skin like a blister, as was mentioned in Ugarte's voyage twenty years before. 
At the inferior bay of San Buenaventura no good water was found. The party 
ascended the river, but, meeting with the dangerous bores, did not get up as high 
as the junction of Gila. Indeed, their canoes do not appear to have reached twenty 
miles from the mouth of the Colorado, when they returned to the gulf on the 
25th July, and, after meeting with many dangers from currents, rapids, and 
storms, finally reached Loretto about the ioth of August, 1746, after an absence 
of sixty days. Father Consagsays, the reason why he mentions no latitude in his 
journal is, that they are all set down exactly in his chart transmitted to the vice- 
roy and published in Venegas' work, but the instruments of 1746 gave latitudes 
from thirty to sixty miles out of the way. It is the chart which is the basis of all 
other charts and maps of the gulf shores of California down to the year 1866, 
and, of course, is full of dangerous errors." 

The final attempt at the exploration of the gulf coasts of the peninsula under 
the Jesuits was that of Padre Wincesloa Link, a native of Bohemia, who had 
recently founded the Mission of San Francisco Borja (pronounced Boreas), which 
is situated in about 28° 30', midway on the parallel of the port of Los Angeles, 



34 

on the gulf, and the northern extremity of the bay of Viscaino, on the Pacific. 
Link, who had only then been a few years in California, instructed a number of 
his Indians in the management of boats, for the purpose of fishing and exploring 
the coasts of his mission district contiguous to the gulf, and by the aid of whom 
in 1765 he made partial exploration of the great island of the Angel de la Guarda 
from Los Angeles port. He traveled over the greater part of the island on foot, 
in which he met with several pleasant-looking valleys, but, finding no water, 
animals, nor inhabitants, concluded it useless to prolong his investigations, and 
returned to his port of departure a few days afterwards. He mentions that the 
island is about 51 miles in length, and only some six miles in breadth; Americans 
who have touched at this island and others in the vicinity, on their way to the 
Colorado, since 1850, affirm that there are valuable fisheries there, and the lands 
are full of copper, silver, and lead minerals, and in some seasons immense num- 
bers of a small and iDcculiar species of whales. 

Two years after this expedition of Link, in the vear 1767, the missionaries of 
the Society of Jesus were expelled from the establishments they had founded in 
California; and from that time to 1867, or the space of 100 years, the history of 
the peninsula is vacant of transactions connected with their order. 

NOTICES OF VOYAGES FROM 1800 TO 1846. 

In a fur-trading and ottei-huating expedition, fitted out from Boston in 1800, 
Captain O'Keene rediscovered the bay of Virgenes, now often called San Quintin, 
whereas present accounts make them two localities within a few leagues of each 
other. This voyage is stated to have returned immense profits. 

In December of the year 1807 the ship Dromio, of 600 tons, belonging to Bos- 
ton, commanded by an old Northwest trader, and carrying 26 guns and 108 men, 
sailed from that port for a smuggling voyasio on the west coast of America. 
After making many good sales between Chili and Mexico, she arrived at Shel- 
vock's Island, southwest from Cape San Lucas, near 21* latitude, in November, 
1808, and employed her crew in killing fur seals, of which they succeeded in 
accumulating in the course of a fortnight 3,000 skins, worth much good money 
then in the Canton market, where the ship was bound. From this island, the 
latitude of which is not stated, they went to Guaymas in December, and sold 
some $150,000 of goods, and from thence to San Jose del Cabo; at both these 
places the ship's crew was treated with great kindness and liberality. Leaving 
San Jose on the 31st December, they arrived at the baj^ of Todos Santos on 4th 
January, 1809, which he places in 31" 36' lat. and 116'^ 22' long., and which is 
to the north of the bay of Virgenes. Here many Indians and but few Spaniards 
were met with, though they were not far from the mission of San Miguel, and 
succeeded, after trading with the people for 34 days, in exchanging most of the 
remnants of tlieir cargo for 1,700 fur-otter skins. "For their cargo shipped at 
Boston two years ago," says Captain Little, who wrote an account of the voy- 
age, " we had in its place $650,000 (coined), $40,000 in old silver plate, $10,000 
in plata fina and pearls, 3,200 fur-seal skins, and 1,700 fur-otter skins." 

Between 1837-39, Dr. F. D. Bennet made a voyage in an English whaling- 
vessel to the Pacific coasts, in which they captured many sperm and other 
whales on the coasts of Lower California, and visited the settlements near Cape 
San Lucas. Between 1836 and 1846 great numbers of whalers, English, French, 
and American, recruited witli much advantage iu these southern settlements, 
principally at La Paz and San Jose del Cabo, and always found supplies of wood, 
water, fish, fruit, beef, and vegetables at reasonable prices. As many as ten 
whalers have been anchored at a time in these ports, and they are still resorted 
to, and offer cheap, reasonable, and convenient outfits to tlie best sealing and 
whahng grounds. 

THE PAST AND PRESENT POPULATION OF OLD CALIFORNIA. 

La Perouse, when at Monterey, in 1786, was informed by the Governor of the 
two Californias that there were then, in the 15 mission districts of the peninsula, 



35 

4,000 Indians and 54 Presidio soldiers. In Humboldt's " New Spain, " he states 
that, in 1802, there were not more than 5,000 Indians and others, and that the 
barbarous tribes to the north numbered about 4,000 more, or 9,000 in all. From 
the best public authorities, Alexander Forbes says there were, in IS.ST, not over 
15,000 inhabitants of all kinds. Loretto contained 300 souls, while La Paz with 
the Real de San Antonio, contained 2,000 souls. In 1848, the village of 
San Jose del Cabo contained some 200 people. In 1842, the Mexican Congress 
admitted two delegates from the two Californias on a basis of .33,439 population, 
12,000 of which were acknowledged as belonging to the peninsula. At the 
time of the American occupation of 1847 -'48, it was also admitted as numbering 
about 12,000 souls. The seven Dominican missions of the north sea coast are 
said to have contained 5,000 Indians in those establishments in the year 1800. 

When the American occupation ended, their vessels took away some 500 
political refugees, who arrived in tlie different vessels-of-war at Monterey, in 
October, 1848, from the peninsula ports below Loretto. After these left, and in 
the fall of 1848, commenced a voluntary emigration from the peninsula to dig 
gold in the new placeres of Alta California, which was estimated to take off 
some 1,200 of the best classes of the population, about one-half of whom found 
their way back before 1855. It is estimated, in 1867, that there are about 
26,000 people in the country from Stin Diego to San Lucas, about 1,000 of whom 
are foreigners, as miners, whalemen, traders, etc., including French, English, 
Germans, and Ameriran, two-thirds of whom are Americans ; the most of them 
arrived since 1855. No accurate account of the population has ever been pub- 
lished or ever ascertained since its foundation ; the old Spanish notices up to 
1802 being merely confined to the mission colonies, or settlements. 

Since the year 1863 a regular monthly line of steamers plies between San 
Francisco and the Mexican coast ports as far as San Bias, touching at La Paz 
and San Jose del Cabo, and bringing Lower CaUfornia into steam connection 
from British Columbia to Acapulco and Panama, and soon to Chili, which is 
having an important influence on the political, social, and commercial affairs of 
the country. In February, 1867, a steamship company was organized in San 
Francisco to connect all the settled gulf ports of Lower California, which will 
greatly stimulate commerce, mining, and emigration. The several incorporated 
railroad companies to run through the southern counties of the State of Cali- 
fornia to the Colorado valley will also have, within the next 10 years, important 
effects on the destinies of the country. The same may be said of those pro- 
posed from the valley of the Rio Grande to the port of Guaymas, which will 
doubtless be accomplished before 20 years have elapsed. 

THE CLIMATE AND COUNTRY OF THE CALIFORNIA PENINSULA — RAINS WITHOUT 

CLOUDS. 

The climate of the country between the boundary and Magdalena Bay is one 
of the most delightful, salubrious, and equable on the face of the globe, and, if 
settled, would be among the most accessible and acceptable sanitariums in the 
world, and is admirably adapted to raising many of the fruits of the torrid zone, 
and all of those of the Mediterranean basin as well as all the vegetables and 
cereals of Alta California ; and all agree that they are of much better quality 
than those raised above San Diego. On the gulf shore, under the same parallels, 
it is not only much hotter, but is subject in the summer and fall months to ter- 
rible hurricanes and water-spouts ; but these do not occur every year, and prac- 
ticed mariners know how to avoid and escape from them to the ports close by 
with little difficulty. In the winter months, after the first rains of November to 
May, the transparency and delightful effects of the cooled atmosphere are said to 
be so exhilarating as to be unequalled in the world ; the moonlights are as bril- 
liant as those of Arabia Felix and Palestine, and good eyes can read print with 
ease from the light of the moon; the earliest notices since 1539 to 1867 remark 
these facts. 



• S6 

A beautiful phenomena is experienced in the peninsular meteorologies which 
are felt on land and on sea, particularly on the gulf coasts, and we believe is 
known in no other country. This is the fall of rains in the summer and autumn, 
when the sky is without clouds and the atmosphere perfectly serene. Much has 
been written on this by various eminent savants, and which, as far as we are 
aware, is not accounted for. But may it not be the showers falling from those 
immense water-spouts or cloud-bursts of which frequent examples occur in tlie 
gulf shores, through tlie Colorado country, and below the Santa Barbara Channel, 
and as high north as the great basin of Washoe and Utah, of wliicli five or six 
recorded examples have occurred since 1861 ? May not tiaese sliowers, taken up 
by the whirlwinds generated by the cloud-bursts, sweep off the falling waters far 
from their centres, and, with the force of the terrific winds, carry the rains into 
perfectly hquiil atmospheres, where they deposit their drops upon tlie earth? 
This question may be propounded to scientific meteorologists. 

FOSSILS AND VALUABLE MINERALS. 

The peninsula is said even to exceed the State of Cahfornia in' the extent of its 
fossil remains of shells, fish, mammalian animals, and even, as is suggested, fossil 
man. There are immense formatious of fossil remains in the vicinities of Mag- 
dalena Bay, Loretto, and Moleje, noticed by the Jesuit writers and by Belcher 
and others. 

Argentiferous galenas are very common above Moleje, and pure sulphur occurs 
in heavy deposits near the volcano vicinities, not far from the same old mission. 
Copper ores abound in several localities between San Diego and Rosario, and 
two mines have been worked there ever since 1855, and copper ores are also 
said by the Jesuit writers to be very common[Jon the northern gulf coasts and 
islands ; tliose of Ceralvo, San Jose, and Espiritu Islands being very rich and 
now well known. It is likely, wlien the business is well established, that the 
copper deposits of the peninsula will be very profitably worked, from the prox- 
imities of all of them to harbors and ports, as in no other parts of the world are 
they so accessible to good seaports. Quicksilver ores are also said to be found 
near Santa Catalina Mission since 1858. The Salinas of the ocean coasts from 
San Quintin to Magdaleua are very numerous and plentiful, and the salt is easily 
gathered. The salt-mines of Carmen Island are said to be sufficiently extensive 
to supply the whole world, and large quantities of salt have been sent to San 
Francisco during the last ten years, as it is very dry, pure, and of the primest 
quality, and is taken out only a short distance from ship-anchorage. Before 
1750 the Jesuits offered to the viceroy to entirely support the CHlitbrnia missions, 
if this deposit were granted to them by the King of Spain, but the offer was de- 
clined. For the last few years tlie Mexican Government has raised considerable 
revenues from farming out this salL-mine. All these salinas will add greatly to 
the resources of the country for the reduction of mineral ores and salting the 
product of the teeming fisheries of the coasts. 

THE SHELL-FISHERIES. 

Pearl-oysters are not found everywhere on the coast, but intercalate at inter- 
vals, preferring well-sheltered bays or harbors where fresh water empties ; but 
this rule is not invariable. They are met with, for over 1,000 miles of shore line 
between Magdalena and around the cape, and all the way up tlie gulf north 
above Angel Guardian Island, and the missionary writers state that after hurri- 
canes, they are known to have been thrown up on the beaches by the cart-load. 
There are, doubtless, many extensive beds never fished or even discovered in 
these little-known seas, as is the habit of the oyster family, and there is every 
likelihood they could be cultivated and increased as are the oysteries of Long 
Island and the Potomac, or of France and England. 



37 

The pearl-fislieries, which are always prosecuted near noon and in cloudless 
weather, are still pursued in the peninsula waters every year, and it is very 
likely the new divingj-apparatus and machinery, getting into such common use 
in San Francisco and other large ports for submarine operations, would succeed 
admirably in facilitating not only the finding and working of them, but in haul- 
ing larger numbers to the surface. * * * It is to be borne in mind that the 
value of good pearls will make it always profitable to look for them, and a num- 
ber one size and lustre is worth still from $5,000 to f 6,00(i, and even more, for 
single pearls. Ordinary pearls are always abundant every year, but extraordi- 
nary sizes and colors are very rare. The most splendid of the pearls in the 
Spanish regalia were brought fr m the Gulf of California before Napoleon's 
invasion, and they had always been in high demand in Spain S'ince the days of 
Cortez. An American minister, in 1863, says that some of these pearls were as 
large as pigeon's eggs, and were among the most valuable jewels in the crown 
regalia. Humboldt mentions' that, in 1802, a Mexican priest invented a diving- 
bell for the purpose of taking pearl-oysters, which he experimented on in one ot 
the lakes near Mexico City, over 7,000 feet above the level of the sea, but noth- 
ing more ever came of it. Tlie pearl-oyster ha been eagerly hunted in Lower 
California every year since the times of Cortez, and the early divers, even before 
his arrival, found them much easier than they did after 1750, and the Indians 
possessed great numbers of them, which they counted as money, and hung 
in strings as to this day they preserve their common shell money ; the early 
traders got great bargains by exchanging trinkets and knives for valuable gems. 
After heavy storms in the season of 1740, immense banks of pearl-oysters were 
thrown up by the waves, and completely paved many parts of the ocean coasts 
below and above Magdalena Bay. The Indians of the vicinities of the Mission 
of San Ignacio. then recently civilized, knowing the estimation in which these 
were held by the Spaniards, brought large quantities of pearls from this sea- 
upheaval to the mission, and sold them to Manuel Oslo and his fellow-soldiers 
for trifling values. With these treasures he procured his discharge, and, hasten- 
ing to Sinaloa, purchased boats, suiDplies, and men, and in 1742 was fortunate 
enough to fish up not less than 127 pounds' weight of pearls, and in 1744 the 
large amount of 275 pounds, all of which made Oslo the richest man in Lower 
California, and his descendants live there to this day. This lucky armador de 
perlas afterward commenced the first silver-mine near the Real de San Antonio, 
but he is said not to have made much money by his mining operations. 

All kinds and varieties of the cactus or prickly-pear family, amounting to some 
fifty distinct species, abound in every part of Baja California, and yield the most 
delicious and healthy quality of fruits in the greatest abundance. The family of 
the agaves (mercals, magueys, or century plants) are extremely abundant and 
varied, and it is likely in the future will mai<e an important article of commerce 
for the manufacture of spirits from the roots, and of rope, bagging, and paper 
fibre, from the leaves or pencas, which often weigh fifty pounds. It is certain 
that the fibre of the agaves could be furnished easily and in the greatest abun- 
dance, in any quantities, and within short distances of ship-anchorage. For rope 
and baggage it exceeds every fibre we have seen in strength, "length of fibre, and 
durability. The family of acacia-trees, called mesquites, algarrobas, and locusts, 
abound in every part of the country. Two kinds of native palms, bearing edible 
fruit, are very abundant, and several kinds of cone-bearing trees, as pines, cedars, 
etc. Oaks, wild plums, cottonwoods, sycamores, willows, and elder, are also met 
with in mountain and valle^y. 

The missionaries, after 1730, introduced the Arabian date-palm, which suc- 
ceeded admirably, and yields abundantly, and also oranges, lemons, and all the 
species of the citrine family — pine-apples, bananas, plantains, and the most of the 
valuable and curious fruits produced in Mexico, below the level of 3,000 feet. 
They also planted the vine, olive, fig, pomegranate, almond, peach, quince, and 
even plums, apples, pears, melons, watermelons, and such like, iu more elevated 



88 

and cooler districts; the vine, fig, olive, currant-grape, almond, quince, and 
peach are much more luscious, and grow much quicker, and with less labor and 
expense, than in Alta California, and in many special localities are unsurpassed 
in the world for luxuriance, sweetness, and flavor. The fig and grape are much 
sweeter than in our State, and the grape ripens better and quicker, from hotter 
and drier suns, and makes much richer wine, brandy, raisins, and currants. 
Before 1849 the Lower Californians sent up annually to Monterey large quanti- 
ties of dry figs, currants, grapes, dates, and peaches, and clieese also, which 
were sold at reasonable rates and good profits. The cultivation of all the fruits 
named, and of many others of Asia and Oceanica, could be indefinitely extend- 
ed, with sufBcient population and a stable government. 

Wheat, barle}^ oats, maize, or corn, and all the cereals of Europe or Asia 
which have been tried, succeed well, according to localities and temperature, 
as well as such vegetables as sweet potatoes, okra, peas, beans, cabbages, and 
pumpkins, onions, egg-fruit, and the native vegetables used for the table in 
Mexico and Peru. The sugar cane has been cultivated for more t an a century, 
and yields a sugar as strong and sweet as that of Peru, and very abundant in 
juice. Coffee has also been tried, and its quality is excellent, as the valleys of 
Lower California, where sheltered from heavy winds, resemble in climate and 
soil the elevated country near Mocha in Arabia If there is plenty of such land 
in the penhisula, coftee can be easily made to become a profitable business, but 
it must be always grown under tlie line of heavy frosts, or it bears no fruit. 

The date-palm, in all its varieties, such as are found in Egypt, Morocco, and 
Arabia, is capable of being cultivated to an indefinite extent in Baja California, 
as it grows ni upland and lowland vigorously, and bears the finest qualitj^ of 
fruits. The same may be said of the cocoa-nut palm, which could be made to 
flourish by the million ; indeed, there would be no difficulty in growing auj' 
species of palm, except those peculiar to moist districts. 

One of the best portion's of the peninsula, in soil, fertility, climate, salubrity, 

■ and abundant fisheries, is that settled by the Dominican friars between 1774 
and 1800. The best map of this portion of old California (as we are informed 
by Captain Kimberly, who has frequently visited it as trader and otter-hunter) 
is Payot's map of 1863. There is much good land in tlie vicinity of the esteros, 
or lagoons, and also near the missions of Rosario, San Vicente, Santo Domingo, 
and Santo Tomas; several permanent streams and a number of coast lagoons 
furnish abundance of excellent water for animals, irrigation, and ship supplies, 
and turtle and fish are exceedingly abundant and easily taken. The orange, 
lemon, banana, date-palm, grape, tig, olive, almond, peach, pomegranate, quince, 
and plum, do much better there than to the north of San Diego, and are not 
only sweeter, but are cultivated with much less difficulty than in Upper Califor- 
nia, and arrive at maturitj^ much earlier. The climate, from its proximity to the 
sea, is not only extremely salubrious, the people enjoying uncommonly good 
health, and being long livers, but the atmosphere is extremely fine, pleasant, 
and invigorating, and seldom troubled with cold summer fogs and winds; these 
facts are well known since 1770, the testimony of travelers and seamen being 
uniform. Many good harbors and ports are found, with every requisite of wood 

. and sweet water for the use of ships ; and all that is wanted to make a pros- 
perous country is population and a stable government : there is said to be suf- 
ficient good land and other requisites to maintain and build up a large city. 

Since 1851 all this part of the coast has been infested by runaway rascals and 
vagabonds from Alta California and Mexico, who have greatly injured the pros- 

■ pects of the respectable people settled in that section of Lower Caiitbruia. This 
got to such a pass that between 1856 and 1861 several of these desperadoes had 
to be shot, and their less guilty companions run out of the country. If it were 

. well protected and governed, this section would rapidly increase in wealth and 
population, as it has, besides the above-mentioned advantages, excellent mines 
of copper, silver, lead, coal, and other valuable minerals. The opposite parallels 



39 

on the gulf, which are entirely unsettled, are also said to contain much good 
land and timber, with sufficient good water for large settlements. 

THE CHINESE AS LABORERS IN LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

Whatever may be done in future under the different political aspects which 
may obtain in the California peninsula, no great amount of agricultural, marine, 
or mineral products can be accumulated without a sure and sufficient supply of 
tropical laborers at reasonoble rates The only people who can fill this neces- 
sary vacancy for long years are the Chinese, who have proved sufficiently docile 
in railroad and manufacturing operations in California State, or in Peru and the 
Sandwich Islands as cultivators of sugar and other products. With proper 
treatment and good laws, under the management of capitalists, the copper, sil- 
ver, and lead mines, the overflowing fislieries, the cultivation of the vine, olive, 
almond, date-palm, maguey, cocoa-palm, nuts, figs, and currants, and of sugar, 
cotton, coffee, chocolate, or cocoa, tea, and hundreds of other tropical and in- 
tertropical productions could be carried on with great profits and in a very 
healthy and desirable climate, and in the vicinity of good shipping ports. The 
Chinese are not strangers on the Mexican coasts, having resided in Acapulco, 
San Bias, and other places, for years before 1800, having come m the old 
galleons from Manilla as merchants, servants, or sailors, and many of their 
descendants exist to this day in Western Mexico. There are no tropical laborers 
either as good, or as cheap and docile, as the laboring classes of China, and after 
a while they would soon make permanent residence in the country. They 
are doubtless intended by Divine Providence to play a most important part in 
the development of the countries of Pacific North and South America : nothing 
can long obstruct their coming. 

THE RAILROAD LINES TO CONNECT SAN FRANCISCO WITH LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

There are now regularly organized railroad corporations to connect the bay 
of San Francisco with the countries of the Colorado and the Gulf of California, 
which without a doubt will be completely effected before the year 1880, or only 
13 years hence. These may be enumerated as follows, and all of them will join 
with the great railroad of the central route between Sacramento and Great Salt 
Lake, and so to the Mississippi, which will be completed by the 1 st of January, 
1870: 

1. The southern railroad coast line from San Jose to Gilroy, and over 
through the Tulare Yalley, and from thence by the way of Los Angeles and 
San Diego to the Colorado, generally called the Phelps Company. 

2. The Sacramento and Arizona Railroad Company, from Sacramento via 
Stockton, Visalia, Fort Tejon, and to the junction of the Colorado and Gila. 

3. Air-line railroad line from Matagorda Bay, in Texas, by the Mesillia Valley, 
the table-lands of Chihuahua, Arizona, and across the Colorado Valley and the 
coast mountains to San Diego Bay ; called Pease and Wood's Line. 

4. A line from Great Salt Lake, via the Pahranagat silver mines, to the Colo- 
rado River at a navigable point. 

5. The railroad company of General Angel Trias, which as a route surveyed 
from Matamoras and through Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango. and 
Sonora, to the port of Guaymas, with liberal grants of land, mining privileges, 
etc., from the Mexican Government. 

AH these routes will be accompanied by telegraph lines. Railroad and tele- 
graph lines will, of course, follow through the length and breadth of Lower 
California, and through all parts of Sonora, and down to Mazatlan, there being 
no insuperable difficulties in existence. The Overland Mail route, through from 
Texas and Arizona to San Diego, will likely also be soon reopened, and after 
that we shall speedily have regular mail lines between San Diego through to 
Cape San Lucas. So that, within a time much shorter than expected, daily mail 



40 

communications may be instituted between San Francisco and the southern 
parts of the peninsula, and also from the Clila all through Sonora and Sinaloato 
Mazatlan. 

The effects of the Panama Railroad, the railroads through Tehuantepec, 
Nicaragua, Honduras, Chiriqui, and Costa Rica, and the great sliip-canal 
through the Isthmus of Darien, all of which will, doubtless, be effected by 1880, 
the passage by the canal of the Isthmus of Suez, the steam lines from California 
to China and from China to Europe, with the telegraph crossing from America 
to Asia, and thence through Russia to England, and so back to America, will, 
in the short space of twenty years, accumulate such overwhelming results in the 
North Pacific State as to involve, by the forces of an irresistible attraction, the 
peninsula of California in the grand circle of events in commerce and politics 
now rapidly hastening to a providential culmination. 

PRESENT EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. 

A recent number of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin gives the following 
summary of Lower Cahfornia exports for the year 1857, taken from official 
Mexican sources : 

Values. Values. 

Hides, 13,000 piece $32,500 Salt Fish, 1,150 poimds $96 

Salt, S.OOOtons 12,000 Brazil-wood, 150 tons 3,000 

Cheese, 100,000 poimds 8,000 Silver ores, 250 tons, cost price 5,600 

Brown sugar, or panoche, 29,000 lbs. . . 11,000 Silver metal, 2,000 marks 16,000 

Dried figs, 32,500 pounds 1,300 Gold, 80 ounces 1,120 

Raisins, 28,500 pounds 2,200 Tortoise-shell, 300 pounds 6,000 

Soap, 2.610 pounds 2,610 Pearls, vahie 21,750 

Wine 54 barrels 540 Mother of pearl shell, or concha nacar 

Dried dates, 20,000 poimds 1,200 495,700 lbs. at 6 cts 29,742 

Oranges, 22,000 M 220 

Amounting in all to about $155,000 in value. This makes no note of such valu- 
able material as whale-oil. seal, sea-elephant and sea-lion oils, and that class of 
marine products, nor of pelts or fur seal, or of the sea otter, or the numbers of 
cattle, mules, and horses sold in Alta California, which must have made the true 
value of exports double. In 1866 the exports of mineral ores and many other 
articles had greatly augmented, and large amounts of whale and marine animal 
oil, with sea-otter pelts, were known, beyond cavil, to have been exported out of 
the country, and the shipments of Carmen Island salt were very considerable. 
It is no exaggerated estimate to put down the value of the exports of Lower 
California in the year 1866 at one million of dollars ; and it is just as likely, from 
the present high prices of oil, it would run to two millions of dollars. 



41 



THE G!^I1A.]VT. 

SALTILLO, March 30th, 1864. 

The Citizen Jose M. Iglesias, Minister of Pomeato of the Mexican Repiib 
lie, with tlie previous express direction of the citizen, the Constitutional Presi 
dent of the same, and Jacob P. Leese, a citizen of tlie United States of America 
in the name of the partners who compose the Company of Colonization of 
Lower California, have agreed to the following clauses for the colonization of the 
vacant lands of the peninsula, from 31 degrees of latitude North in the direction 
of the South to 24 degrees and 20 minutes of latitude : 

1st. The -'empresarios" (managers) will colonize the respective vacant lands 
of that tract, respecting the property previously acquired by Mexican citizens 
by birth, whether they have or not the conjfirmation for their titles, the real 
corporeal occupation or quasi occupation of the lands which they may claim 
being sufficient to give them preference. This being understood with regard to 
the property granted before the Government complied with this petition, but 
not so with the occupantions that might be made afterwards, with fraud, to the 
predjudice of the same. 

2d. The lands comprehended between the twenty-seventh degree and the thirty- 
first of latitude, are granted in all their extent for the claimed colony, reserving 
therein only fourth-part for Mexican citizens by birth who might solicit the 
property thereof These will also have one-fourth part in the lots in all and each 
of the new towns which might be founded by the colonists. 

3d. All the minerals, of whatsoever class, that may be found in the granted 
vacant lands, will be worked by the colonists in accordance with the provisions 
of the ordinances and laws in force in the Republic in reference to mining 
operations. 

4th. In relation to the fishery of whales and seals in all_^the extent of the 
Coast of the Peninsula, the colonists will subject themselves likewise to the 
provisions of the respective laws in the matter. 

5th. Every " sitio de ganado mayor" (square league) that shall be occupied 
by the Company of Colonization, will be paid for at the rate of one-third part 
less than the price of the tariff, as a mean term among the bad, the good, and 
the best. The fourth part that may correspond to the Mexican citizens by birth, 
will be paid for by them on their own account. 

6th. Of each one of the towns that may be in the progress of being founded, 
there will be made a plan on account of the " empresarios," of which a copy 
will be forwarded to the office of the Minister of Fomento, and another to the 
G-overnment of the Territory of Lower California for the cognizance thereof. 

7th. Within the term of five years, reckoned from the day of the approval 
of this project of colonization, the " empresarios" will introduce in the territory 
two hundred colonizing families at least. 

8th. The salt-works of the "Ojo de Liebre," and "San Quentin," which at 
present are rented by the G-overnment, when the existing contract shall have 
expired, will be rented to said colony for the term of twenty years, with the con- 
dition that there will be paid to Government twenty reales per ton of salt that 
shall be exported from the salt-works aforesaid. 

9th. The colonists shall enjoy liberty of religious worship, and the rights 
and guarantees which the political Constitution of the Republic of 1857 has de- 
clared as the rights of man. 

10th. The colonists shall be independent in their municipal administration, 
in virtue of which they will be empowered to freely frame all the institutions 
they may consider proper for the development of their intelligence, and of their 
morals and good manners ; to make regulations for the government of their 
respective municipalities, provided they do not conflict with the Constitution 
and general laws of the Republic ; to freely elect their authorities ; establish 



42 

municipal taxes, and promote and execute all the material improvements proper 
to the welfare of the colonies, simply giving information of .all to the Political 
Chief of the Territory, and subjecting themselves to the obedience of ilie author- 
ity thereof, in all those things wherein it might be necessary to apply thereto, 
and ask relief for any of the parties. 

11th. As soon as the colonists shall be established in any part of the Terri- 
tory, they will be considered as Mexican citizens, with the same rights and obli- 
gations as Mexican citizens by birth, and only with the temporary exemptions 
which are granted to them to ensure the foundation of the colonies. 

12th. All the effects of wearing apparel; all classes of iron tools that might 
be introduced for the exclusive use of the colonies, bs well as all the provisions 
and tilings necessary to preserve life, shall be free from duties for the term of ten 
years. 

13th. For an equal period of time shall the colonists be exempt from paying 
for all classes of imposts and tax<s, except the municipal contributions which 
they themselves may establish. 

14th. The colonists are exempt for five years from service in the National 
army ; but after that time, they will render their service therein, like all the 
other Mexican citizei s, with entire subjection to the provisions of the recruiting 
laws. The said colonists will be undur the obligation of serving in the National 
Guard of each one of the towns they may establish, with the view of keeping 
order in them. 

15th. Twenty years after the founda ions of the colonies, the land-< which are 
granted to the "empresarios" must be divided in such a manner that each 
colonist will not possess more than three square leagues. 

16th. The " empresarios'' will advance the sum of one hundred thousand dollars 
on account of the price of the lands they are to colonize, delivering, at the term 
of one hundred and twenty days after signing ihis agreement, the said sum of 
Mexican gold in San Francisco, California, to the Mexican Consul at that port, 
or to the person whom the Supreme Government may opportunely designate. 

17th. If the " empresarios" should not fulfil some or any of the conditions 
stipulated in the time and form prescribed, the concession shall be null and void, 
and of no effect: even though they had delivered the sum advanced which is 
spoken of in the preceding article, in whicli case they will be indemnified with 
five hundred square leagues (sicios de ganado mayor) between the twenty- 
seventh and thirty-first degree of latitude, with the particular understanding 
that at the term of twenty years from the nullification of this contract, none of 
the empresarios will be able to hold more than three leagues of property, each of 
them being authorized to sell within this term of twenty years, all the lands that 
may properly appertain to them, but with the condition of not giving more than 
three "sitios de ganado mayor" to one sole person. 

18th. Within four months from the signing of this agreement, the representa- 
tive of the Colonizing Company of Lower California shall present himself to 
ratify and accept, in the name of said Company, all and each one of the clauses 
contained in the said agreement, in order that from that time it maybe obligatory 
on the part of the Company, in the name of which Mr. Leese has made the said 
agreement. 

In due witness whereof, we sign the present agreement, in duplicate, at the 
City of Saltillo, the Capital of the State of Coahuila, on the Thirtieth Day of the 
Month, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-Four. 

(Signed,) JOSE M. INGLESIAS. 

(Signed,) JACOB P. LEESE. 



43 

MR. POSTON TO GENERAL LOGAn! 

Washington, D. C, June 14th, 186. 
Hon. John A. Logan, 

Vice-President and Superintendent Lower California Company : 

Sir, — In answer to your letter of the 2d inst., as to the colonization of Chi- 
nese in Lower California, and the best point in the Company's territory on the 
Peninsula, for such purpose, I take pleasure in making the following obser- 
vations and suggestions: 

The first settlement made by Europeans on this Peninsula encountered no 
insuperable difficulties to founding colonies and missions, which exist to this day. 

A colony of Chinese would require much less than a colony of Americans or 
Europeans, because Chinese are not accustomed to a comfortable style of living. 
In the ("arly emigration of the Chinese to California, when they came six or seven 
hundred in a ship, they brought their bedding in a bundle of mats, their subsist- 
ence in bags of rice and dried fish, and their primitive cooking utensils in a small 
package. They were then provided with a pick and shovel and marched on foot 
to the mines, carrying their luggage on their backs. They were contented to 
work mines or placers which had been abandoned by the American miners on 
account of the small yield; but the Chinese, by their industrj^ patience, and fru- 
gality, had no difficulty in working these same mines at a profit. 

The genial climate of Lower California affords great advantages for founding a 
colony, as Europeans, Americans, or Asiatics could be cast ashore in any part of 
the Peninsula and not suffer from the inclemency of the weather — a more healthy 
country cannot be found in the world, and at the Missions several Indians can be 
seen over one hundred j^ears old. 

Magdalena Bay would be the most convenient landing place for Cliine se emi- 
grants. The harbor is large, safe, and well-defined, and will compare favorably 
with any of the great harbors on the Pacific coast. The British Admiralty 
charts, made from the surveys of Sir Edward Belcher, will give all the necessary 
information f )r safe anchorage. &c. 

The fresh water springs, which are resorted to by men-of-war and the whaling 
fleet, would answer the temporary purposes of emigrants for supplies of water. 
They could afterwards obtain supplies convenient to their location by digging 
wells, orby training the streams coming down from the mounta ins. 

The re adiest resource for colonists would be the fisheries, which abound all 
along the coasts, harbors, inlets, lagoons, and shores of this Peninsula, and for 
which the San Francisco market would afford them a quick return. 

Tiie next resource would be the mining and shipment of copper ores, which 
can be transported to San Francisco in small vessels, without any great outlay of 
capital, and will be readily purchased by the California smelters or agents for the 
European works. 

Of the Agricultural resources of the Peninsula but little is known, and the 
popular opinion is unfavorable ; but the subject must be investigated for truth. 
"We all remember when Texas was cursed as a land of sand and cactus ; when 
Utah was called the Great American Desert; when Upper California was de- 
nounced as a country which could never support a population ; when Nevada 
was called a howling wilderness; and when grave Senators said that "a buzzard 
could not pass over New Mexico and Arizona without carrying his rations." As 
all these statements were made from a want of knowledge, perhaps the same 
absence of information may cause the prejudice against Lower California. 

It is certain that the Missions there were in a flourishing condition until their 
confiscation by the Mexican Government, and that the exports of the Peninsula 
exceed its imports. These exports are hides, salt, cheese, dried meat, sugar, figs, 



44 

raisins, soap, wine, dates, oranges, fish, Brazil wood, silver ores, copper ores, 
silver, gold, tortoise-shells, pearls, pearl-shells (mother of pearl), <tc., &c., &c. 

The fact that these articles are exported from Lower California, is the best 
evidence I can give you that they are produced in excess there. 

It may be urged that the Peninsula is sterile, and that it never rains. Very 
well, — it is not true, but you may admit it, — it never rains in Peru, and yet the 
Spaniards found a system of agriculture, sustained by irrigation, which far sur- 
passed anything that had ever been accomplished in Spain, or any other part of 
Europe. 

The Chinese understand the system of irrigation better than any other people 
who practice it, and have brought it to greater perfection. They also understand 
and practice the fertilization of land to a degree far surpassing any European 
nation. The fertilization of land occupies a large portion of the time of a Chinese 
husbandman ; no particle of manure, either animal or human, is allowed to go 
to waste. 

In the Islands adjoining the Peninsula, and also belonging to your Company, 
are known to exist abundant supplies of guano, which may be readily nse(l4n 
fertilizing the lands of the Peninsula. 

For grazing cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. Lower California, is, in some re- 
spects, superior to Upper California ; and I have personally known, in seasons 
of great drouth, the cattle and horses from Los Angelos and San Diego to be 
driven to Lower California to save them from perishing. 

It would be as well for the Company — as suggested by Mr. Burlingame and 
Mr. J. Ross Browne — to prepare for the arrival of the colonists, by providing 
lumber for houses, tents, provisions, especially rice, mining tools, and agricultu- 
ral implements and seeds. 

They will also need some launches, or small boats, for transporting their sup- 
plies from the ship to the shore ; and afterwards for navigating the lagoons and 
harbors in the vicinity. 

A commerce will soon spring up between the colonists of Magdalena Bay and 
the Northern ports of California and the Western coast of Mexico. 

The Panama and California steamers, and the Mexican steamers run in sight 
of the entrance to Magdalena Bay every voyage, and could stop there with a loss 
of only four or five hours. 

It would be a reflection upon the wisdom of the Creator to doubt that this Pe- 
ninsula was made for some useful purpose, and the present seems an opportune 
moment, and your Company a most suitable agent, to open the way for an influx 
of Asiatics to the western Coast of America, which, if carefully guided, may sur- 
pass, in results, any former exodus of the human race. 

Your very obedient servant, 

CHARLES D. POSTON. 



LOWER CALIEORNIA: 



|ts §f0gra|)|» m\)i €^MMims(m, 



H' 



SKETCH OF THE GRANT AND PURPOSES 



LOWER CALIFORNIA COMPAIY. 



1868 



M. B. BROWN & CO., BOOK & JOB STEAM PKINTEKS, 

9!) & 101 WixLiAiH Street. 

1868. 



